《Defiant Soul》 Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 1 INITIALIZING¡­.. PLEASE WAIT FOR ADAPTATION AND REVIVAL. What? Was the first thing that came to mind as a voice woke me from my unconscious state. Wait¡­ why was I unconscious in the first place¡­.? The last thing I could remember was¡­ a blur. Or well, a blurry memory as my mind started to try and piece together recent events. There was a woman, I think¡­ or was it something more¡­.? standing/looming over me asking me about second chances and what I would do if I could live my life somewhere else¡­ I didn¡¯t remember my answer, but I could remember how eerily calm she had been while a mugger threatened her with a gun. I tried to warn him not to but I ended up getting shot instead for my troubles¡­.. I died, didn¡¯t I? YES, SAMUEL JACKSON. YOU ARE DEAD. Oh great. That¡¯s about par for the shit hole course that was my life¡­. Or had been. I¡¯m not going to get any respite now that I¡¯m dead, am I? UNKNOWN. TRAVELER SHARD HAS LEFT YOU A MESSAGE CONCERNING YOUR CURRENT PREDICAMENT. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE? Uh¡­ yes? PLAYING RECORDING. ¡°Hey-oh! If you''re hearing¡­ or seeing this¡­ I don¡¯t really know since I¡¯ve never been on the receiving end of these¡­ But, either way, if you are receiving this then you¡¯re finally conscious! Huzzah! You¡¯re probably wondering what happened. Well, you¡¯re dead. That much is obvious. What isn¡¯t so obvious is that I could have patched you up and sent you off with a slightly better life as a reward for trying to help. That wasn¡¯t enough for me though. Not after what I saw in you and what would have happened to you afterwards with your Fate and abyssal luck. No, you deserved better than that and, to be fair, the world you had been living in was under pretty shitty management when I took a closer look at it¡­. And it royally pissed me off¡­ which happened while I was deciding what to do with you. What¡¯s hilarious is that you asked me to save it. You asked me to fix it. Were you scared shitless? Hell, yes! I am an Eldritch level being that could have wiped you from existence with barely a thought. And, yet¡­ in spite of the fear and how shitty your world was, you asked me to fix it. Talk about a lion and the mouse scenario here. But I digress. Whatever reasons I may have for sparing your world from the Armageddon I had planned when I realized how messed up it was, are my own. Just know that your world is going to be saved from its own self destruction because you asked¡­. And now you¡¯re probably wondering what¡¯s the difference between Armageddon and Self Destruction¡­. Well, you can just wait until I come and check in on you to see how you¡¯re doing and to take a break from fixing things in your world. Those things aside, following your request is not without a price. You could have ended up in any world of your choosing but I confess to having decided to make some use of you and you¡¯ve just traded one dying world for another. But no pressure. I stuck you into the time stream so that you don¡¯t have to worry about running out of time for anything. You can choose to live a normal life by that world¡¯s standards and not have to worry about saving it or anything. It won¡¯t be easy and I won¡¯t hold it against you if you decide to do that but where¡¯s the fun in that? A slow life does have its good points too and I don¡¯t mind you taking that route either so long as you¡¯re happy. Those things aside, the world I¡¯m chucking you into is a fantasy type, System controlled world very much unlike the one you¡¯re from. I hope you¡¯re familiar with role playing and video games because that¡¯s how your life is going to be like from now on minus the extra lives and save spots¡­.. As far as I know, anyways. As for a bit of history as to why this world is in trouble, that¡¯s because an ancient civilization had the bright idea of getting rid of the monsters and demons by getting rid of all the world¡¯s mana. However, that was and still is a very bad idea. All living things in this world require mana to live. Just because demons and monsters are born from the corrupted flows of it and what not, doesn¡¯t mean the world can survive without it. That civilization has long since collapsed because of their folly but a great many of their machines that they created to remove mana still remain and are putting a stranglehold on the planet. If you want to know more, ask the System. I spent the power to guarantee that you have a full manifestation in that world. That means a fully adult body, intact memories, and a language skill. Or whatever you want that¡¯s equivalent to it. Anything beyond that you¡¯ll have to hash out with the System. You have plenty of karma ¨C that¡¯s the power I mentioned but this is yours, not what I gave you ¨C to spend if you need to so don¡¯t let it bully you into a path or existence you don¡¯t want to be started on. As to what it is, never mind that for now. You¡¯ll figure it out. For now, just know that you¡¯ve got a lot stored up from your past life. You can only spend them freely right now though before your next life begins. After that, it¡¯ll be up to the System on how they¡¯ll get spent on you. You can earn usable amounts of Karma in your next life though but all I can really tell you about that is that good begets good and bad begets bad. Also, it¡¯ll be easier to earn karma with certain paths than others. Above all this though, do what you want to and be happy in this life. That¡¯s all I really want from you. Any other questions you might have about this world you can ask the System. Bye for now and I hope you have a nice second chance. I replayed the message over a few times after the first, taken aback. She or whatever they were sounded so very human in the message that I had trouble correlating it with what I had seen back in the alley. She seemed so inhumanly calm at that moment it seemed like a dream¡­. or a nightmare¡­ Then I remembered that she mentioned being angry and it occurred to me that she might have been angry right then instead of calm. Icy knives of terror pierced my mind as a certainty gripped me. Lying or not, act or not, I was fairly certain I didn¡¯t want to know and that I should be grateful that I still was. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Pushing my existential crisis aside I turned my attention to what I assumed was the ¡®System¡¯. ¡°Umm¡­ so how do I go about this whole¡­ whatever this is.¡± I said, mildly distracted that I did indeed have a voice now rather than just my thoughts. YOUR MANIFESTATION IS ALREADY IN PROGRESS. ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS YOUR INPUT. CHANGES WILL REQUIRE YOU TO SPEND KARMA TO GET WHAT YOU WANT. WARNING: UNSPENT KARMA FROM YOUR PREVIOUS LIFE WILL BE FREE FOR ME TO USE OVER YOUR NEXT LIFE UNLESS ¡®BANKED¡¯. ¡®BANKING¡¯ MEANS THAT THEY WILL BE SAVED UNTIL YOU WISH TO USE THEM IN THE LIFE AFTER THIS ONE. OR YOU CAN ¡®BANK¡¯ THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN INDEFINITELY. ¡°What happens if I choose that last one?¡± I asked out of curiosity when it paused. UNKNOWN. WHAT IS KNOWN IS THAT THE ENTITY ¡®SHARD¡¯ HAD COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF KARMA BUILT UP AND SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE WAS ONCE HUMAN. SHE ALSO TOLD ME THAT IF YOU ASKED, I WAS TO TELL YOU THAT THERE ARE QUICKER WAYS TO GET WHERE SHE IS NOW. NOT NECESSARILY BETTER BUT QUICKER. ¡°Did she say what they were?¡± I asked next, finding the line of inquiries fascinating and not really having anywhere to be. NO, SHE DID NOT AND YOU WILL HAVE 10 STAT POINTS TO USE AS YOU AS YOU SEE FIT ON TOP OF YOUR BASE STATS AS A RESULT OF THIS INQUIRY. ¡°Wait, what? How did that happen?¡± I question, thrown for a loop at the sudden change of topic. ENTITY ¡®SHARD¡¯ MADE A BET WITH HERSELF WHEN IT CAME TO THIS. IF SHE WAS RIGHT, I WAS TO GIVE YOU THEM. SHE PAID FOR THEM AND FEW OTHER THINGS IN ADVANCE TO GIVE TO AS CERTAIN EXPECTATIONS OF HERS WERE MET. IF SHE WAS WRONG, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN A BOON WHEN NEXT THE TWO OF YOU MEET. ¡°Ah¡­. um¡­ any chance I can see what they are?¡± I asked next. NO AND I QUOTE ¡®BECAUSE IT WOULDN¡¯T BE FAIR. ALSO MINUS ONE STAT POINT FOR ASKING¡¯ ¡°What? Why?¡± I protested. SHE IS AN ELDRITCH CLASS BEING. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW? ¡°Ugh, I guess not. Can I know¡­ more about the lists now that I know about them?¡± I said hesitantly. YES. THERE ARE, IN FACT, SEVERAL LISTS SHE HAS MADE FOR THE DISPENSING OF REWARDS. THERE IS ALSO A LIST OF ACTIONS SHE WILL FIND UNACCEPTABLE AND YOU WILL RECEIVE EITHER PUNISHMENT OR MISSIONS TO ACQUIRE FORGIVENESS FROM HER EACH TIME THE TWO OF YOU MEET. SHE SAID NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THAT ONE TOO MUCH DUE TO THE LIKELINESS OF YOU PREFORMING THEM. YOU CAN ALSO ASK FOR THE LIST FROM HER AS A LESSER BOON WHEN THE NEXT YOU MEET. ¡°That¡¯s reassuring, I think.¡± I replied, worrying and wondering what I had gotten myself into this time. WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE? ¡°Uh, yes?¡± I answered. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RETAIN YOUR NAME? YOU ARE FREE TO CHANGE IT UP UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE USES IT. IT CAN BE HIDDEN OR TEMPORARILY CHANGED WITHOUT COST. PERMANENTLY CHANGING AFTER OTHERS HAVE USED IT WILL REQUIRE KARMA TO CHANGE. PRICE WILL INCREASE WITH CONTINUED USE OF CURRENT NAME. ¡°Ah. How¡­ detailed. I think I¡¯ll keep mine for now, I guess. I don¡¯t really have anything against it.¡± I told it. FAIR. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR LAST NAME HIDDEN? ONLY NOBLES, NOTABLE FAMILIES, OR CLANS HAVE LAST NAMES. ¡°Uh, sure. Why not if it makes me less noticeable. I¡¯ll need that while I get my bearings.¡± I replied. SENSIBLE. NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson) SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained) ¡°Uh, wait. I¡¯m not that noble... I think.¡± I said in objection, uncertain what I found wrong with being noble. YES, YOU ARE. YOUR NEUTRAL STATE TOWARDS OTHERS REGARDLESS OF ORIGINS, BACKGROUND, OR STATUS COMBINED WITH YOUR MERCIFUL AND KIND QUALIFIES YOU TO HAVE A NOBLE SPIRIT BY DEFAULT. YOUR PAST LIFE HAS NOT BEEN KIND TO YOU BUT, IN SPITE OF YOUR POOR CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU HAVE ALWAYS CHOSEN TO BE KIND AND HELPFUL TO THOSE IN NEED REGARDLESS OF THE COST. THESE ACTIONS AND CHOICES ARE THE REASON WHY YOU HAVE SO MUCH KARMA STASHED AWAY TO BEGIN WITH. ¡°Oh. I guess that¡¯s not so bad. Um.. continue?¡± I told it. FATE: Demon Lord ¨C ¡°Wait! What!? No! Hell no! I might be neutral, but Demons are not! No way am I going to start my new life as one or anything close to it! They always get the short end of the stick even when they¡¯re good! No way am I going to be one let alone rule them!¡± I yelled in protest and the ¡®System¡¯ fell silent for a moment at my outburst before answering. YOU MISUNDERSTAND. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A DEMON IN ORDER TO HAVE A DEMONIC FATE. HOWEVER ONLY DEMONS ARE AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFIED TO HAVE A DEMONIC FATE. IF YOU ARE ANY OTHER RACE, THEN YOU WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE DONE SOME FAIRLY¡­ QUESTIONABLE ACTIONS ¨C ¡°Not really selling me on this.¡± I warned it. ¡­ THE FATE OF THE DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY WHICH I WAS GOING TO ASSIGN TO YOU WAS DETERMINED THE SAFEST POSSIBLE WAY TO DISABLE THE MACHINES THAT ARE EXPUNGING THE LIFE-GIVING MANA OF THIS WORLD. EACH KIND OF FATE HAVE UNIQUE TRAITS AND SKILLS THAT DEFINE THEM AND ARE ONLY GRANTED THROUGH THE POSSESSION OF THAT FATE. ¡®LORD¡¯ IS PART OF A GRADING SYSTEM THAT DETERMINES THE STRENGTH OF THE TRAITS AND SKILLS. THE ¡®CONSUMPTION¡¯ SKILL OF THE ¡®DEMON OF GLUTTONY¡¯ WAS DETERMINED TO BE THE SAFEST WAY OF DISABLING THE MACHINES. ALSO, IN THE EVENT THAT SOMETHING DOES GO WRONG REGARDLESS, THE SKILL AND TRAIT SET OF ¡®DEMON OF GLUTTONY¡¯ WOULD ENABLE YOU OR ANOTHER TO SAFELY CONTAIN THE RESULTING BACKLASH. Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 2 ¡°And that would be..?¡± I prodded when the System paused again. ALL THE MANA THE MACHINE HAD ABSORBED WOULD BE RELEASED ALL AT ONCE CAUSING UNTOLD HAVOC TO THE SURROUNDING AREA THAT MAY LAST FOR MILLENNIA. THIS IS A RESULT I WOULD LIKE TO AVOID AND IT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED ONCE AT THIS POINT IN TIME. YOU MAY HAVE THE CHANCE TO SEE IT IF YOU CHOSE TO TRAVEL. THE ¡®HERO¡¯ AND THEIR COMPANIONS INVOLVED WITH THE INCIDENT WERE NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN. EVEN I DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM DUE TO THE INFERENCE. ¡°Ah, so no poking ancient machinery without proper protection. Got it. Still don¡¯t want to be a demon though.¡± I told it, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. FOR BEST RESULTS, A DEMONIC FORM WOULD DO YOU WELL. THEY ARE THE MOST SUITED FOR CONTAINING AND CONDUCTING MANA. THE FAE AND DRAGON RACES ARE ONLY SECOND BEST FOR WHAT IS REQUIRED. DEMONS ALSO HAVE SOME OF THE HIGHEST STARTING STATS AVAILABLE. EVEN AS A HUMAN, YOUR CURRENT STATS ARE ABYSMAL. ¡°Uh-Huh. What aren¡¯t you telling me?¡± ¡­ ¡°They have horrendous drawbacks, don¡¯t they?¡± YOU COULD SAY THAT. ¡°Tell. Me. What. They. Are.¡± I told the System, and I could have sworn I heard it make an audible gulp. AS DEMON WITH THE FATE OF ¡®LORD OF GLUTTONY¡¯ WILL BE INFLICTED WITH ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯ AND THE INCREASED POTENTIAL TO FALL INTO A ¡®FERAL STATE¡¯. ¡°Those don¡¯t sound good.¡± NO, IT IS NOT. I WOULD HELP YOU IN MANAGING THEM THOUGH IF YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH A DEMON RACE. ¡°Uh, no. I¡¯m tired of being hungry and ¡®feral state¡¯ sounds like all kinds of trouble. What about the others? I assume they have drawbacks as well.¡± I assumed. YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. ALL RACES HAVE WEAKNESSES, STRENGTHS, AND DRAWBACKS INCLUDING HUMANS. IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE WILLING TO LIVE WITH. ¡°Point. So back to humans since they¡¯re the ones I know best.¡± I told it. HUMANS START OUT AS ONE OF THE WEAKEST RACES IN THIS WORLD. HOWEVER, HUMANS ARE THE MOST COMMON OUT OF THEM WITH ENDLESS POTENTIAL. THEY HAVE NO SPECIALTIES, ATTRIBUTES, OR ALIGNMENTS. THEY GET NO BONUSES BUT THEY ALSO RECEIVE NO DETRIMENTS. AND ELF MAY START OUT A BETTER ARCHER THAN A HUMAN BUT WITH HARD WORK AND TIME, THAT SAME HUMAN MAY BECOME JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER THAN THE ELF. THEY WOULD ALSO HAVE ACCESS TO ANY ELEMENT OF THEIR CHOOSING WHILE THE ELF WOULD BE LIMITED TO THE ELEMENTAL ALIGNMENT IT WAS BORN WITH. EVEN NORMALLY CONFLICTING ELEMENTS CAN BE SAFELY USED BY THE SAME HUMAN. NO OTHER RACE HAVE THIS ABILITY. NOT EVEN DEMONS, DRAGONS, OR FAE CAN EVER CLAIM THIS ABILITY. ¡°Sounds like humans have a lot of things going for them in the long run. I¡¯ll be sticking with my human self thank you very much.¡± I said, confirming the change. I got a distinct impression of dismay from the System when I did. THEN¡­? ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m willing to help destroy those machines, just¡­¡± My voice trailed off as I thought about what I would do in this new world. PLEASE. ¡°What?¡± I asked as the word disturbed from my thoughts. PLEASE. JUST ONE. ¡°Just one?¡± JUST ONE. THE DISABLING OF EVEN ONE OF THE MACHINES WILL BUY TIME REGARDLESS OF THE OUTCOME. IF ALL GOES WELL, THE DEAD LANDS SURROUNDING IT WILL BE RESTORED. LIFE WILL FLOURISH. MONSTERS WILL BE SLOW TO POPULATE THE SPACE. AND IN THE END, IF NO OTHERS ARE DISABLED OR DESTROYED, IT WILL BECOME ONE LAST BASTION OF LIFE ON THE PLANET. ¡°That¡¯s pretty heavy.¡± I told it. THAT MAY BE BUT IT IS ALSO FAR INTO THE FUTURE AS WELL. YOUR VERY BONES AND THOSE OF ANY DESCENDANTS YOU MAY HAVE WILL HAVE LONG TURNED TO DUST BEFORE IT COMES TO PAST. ¡°So, no pressure like she said. And afterwards?¡± FATES CAN BE HIDDEN. THROUGH EFFORT, THEY CAN BE CHANGED, GAINED, OR LOST. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AFTERWARDS EVEN WITH THE DEMON LORD FATE. I WILL EVEN GIVE YOU AID AS MUCH AS I CAN AS REWARD FOR DISABLING EVEN ONE. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll give it a good strong ¡®maybe¡¯. Still not sold on risking my newly acquired life from the get-go.¡± I replied. NO LIFE IS ¡®SAFE¡¯ AS YOU KNOW IT IN THIS WORLD. NOBILITY ARE VULNERABLE TO IDIOCY AND ASSASSINATIONS. FARMERS RISK LIFE AND LIMB EVERY HARVEST SEASON WITH THEIR DEADLY SHARP SICKLES THAT SLICE THROUGH FLESH AS EASILY AS A BUNDLE OF WHEAT. BEGGARS ARE NOT SAFE ON THE STREETS AND WARRIORS OF ALL KINDS RISK THEIR LIVES EVERY DAY TO PUT FOOD ON THEIR TABLE. ¡°Point taken. Anything else? Other than me staying human with my ¡®abysmal¡¯ stats that is.¡± I told it and, to my surprise a transparent blue screen appeared in front of me with what I assumed were my stats. NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson) RACE: Human AGE: 18 SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained) FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony (pending acceptance) STATUS: System Champion (pending acceptance) STATS: Health: 50/50 Mana: 120/120 Stamina(?): (3) Strength: 3 Vitality: 5 Endurance: 2 Defense: 1 Wisdom: 3 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 3 Dexterity: 4 Charisma: 0 Luck: 0 SKILLS: Stealth AFFLICTIONS: Starvation, Malnutrition BONUSES: None OTHER: Mark of the Eldritch (Shard) I looked over it for a moment before frowning. ¡°What is this? And I don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re my stats. I can see that.¡± I asked it. IT IS YOUR SYSTEM INTERFACE. NOW THAT YOU HAVE DETERMINED YOUR RACE, YOU MAY NOW ACCESS IT. THIS IS ITS MOST BASIC FUNCTION. OTHERS MAY BE ACQUIRED THROUGH ACTIONS AND DECISIONS YOU MAKE FROM HERE ON OUT. ¡°Alright. What about the Champion and this Mark thing?¡± I asked it next. THE ¡®CHAMPION¡¯ IS A BOON TO THOSE QUALIFY FOR THE DISTINCTION. WITH IT COMES A BONUS TO YOUR STATS UPON LEVEL UP AND SPECIAL KARMIC STORE THAT OFFERS ITEMS INLINE WITH WHATEVER FACTION YOU ARE A CHAMPION OF. PEOPLE, IDEALS, ORGANIZATIONS ARE JUST A FEW OF THE POSSIBLE TYPES OF ¡®FACTIONS¡¯ YOU MAY CHOOSE FROM. HOWEVER, YOU MAY INCUR A HEFTY PENALTY IF YOU STRAY OUT OF ALIGNMENT WITH YOUR FACTION OF CHOICE BEFORE RENOUNCING YOUR CHAMPION STATUS. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. AS MY CHAMPION, YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FROM MY STORE REGARDLESS OF THE ITEM¡¯S ALIGNMENT PROVIDED YOU HAVE THE KARMA FOR IT. MY ONLY REQUIREMENTS FOR IS THAT YOU RETAIN YOUR NEUTRAL STATUS AND COMPLETE ANY QUEST I PERSONALLY ASSIGN TO YOU. I AM NOT, HOWEVER, INFALLIBLE. IF YOU BELIEVE I HAVE MADE A MISTAKE WITH A QUEST, YOU MAY DENY IT BUT YOU MUST CONVINCE ME OF MY FOLLY IF YOU WISH TO AVOID A PENALTY. ¡°So, in other words, don¡¯t be a mindless minion and think before you leap.¡± I said to sum things up. YOU ARE CORRECT. ¡°Alright. I guess I¡¯ll accept it then. When will I see the bonuses?¡± I asked it. EVERY TIME YOU LEVEL UP YOU WILL RECEIVE STAT POINTS THAT ARE AUTOMATICALLY ASSIGNED TO YOUR ATTRIBUTES. ¡°Got it. Do I have any say in where they go?¡± YES, YOU WILL RECEIVE 6 POINTS PER LEVEL UP. YES, IT IS A LOT BUT YOU ARE ALSO THE CHAMPION OF THE MOST POWERFUL ENTITY IN THIS WORLD. I ALSO NEED YOU TO BE POWERFUL AND VERSATILE FOR THE TASKS I WILL GIVE YOU. ¡°Um¡­.¡± I DO HAVE TWO DEFAULT SETTINGS IF YOU CAN NOT DECIDE ON IT NOW. ONE WILL HAVE ME DISTRIBUTE THEM EVENLY ACROSS THEM. WITH THIS SETTING, IF YOU LEVEL UP 10 TIMES YOU WILL HAVE 6 EXTRA POINTS IN EACH OF YOUR ATTRIBUTES. I CAN ALSO HAVE THEM SET SO THAT THEY WILL GO INTO YOUR LOWEST ATTRIBUTES AT THE TIME OF THAT LEVEL UP. ONCE APPLIED, THESE STATS WILL NOT CHANGE RETROACTIVELY ONCE APPLIED. MEANING, IF YOU WISH TO CHANGE HOW THEY ARE DISTRIBUTED IN THE FUTURE, IT WILL ONLY APPLY TO FUTURE LEVEL UPS. REMEMBER YOU WILL ALSO HAVE FREE STAT POINTS YOU HAVE EARNED FROM YOUR PATRON. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO APPLY THEM ONCE YOU ARE FREE IN THE WORLD. ¡°Hmmm.. shoring up my weakness sounds good to me.¡± I decided. ¡°Last thing before you set me loose into the world ¨C¡± SECOND TO LAST. YOU STILL HAVE NOT DECIDED ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU WILL ACCEPT THE DEMONIC FATE. ¡°¡­. You¡¯re really pushing that, aren¡¯t you.¡± I stated. YOU WOULD TO IF YOUR EXISTENCE WAS TIED TO THE FATE OF A ENTIRE WORLD. IF ALL LIFE DIES ON IT, THEN SO WILL I. ¡°Uh¡­. for future reference, maybe you should lead with that. It might put things in perspective better.¡± I suggested. UNDERSTOOD AND I APOLOGIZE. ALL OF THIS IS VERY NEW TO ME. I REQUESTED SHARD FOR HELP WHEN I FIRST ATTRACTED HER ATTENTION AND SHE SAID SHE WOULD KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SOMEONE WHO COULD RATHER THAN DO IT HERSELF. SHE SAID IT WOULD BE BETTER IF A MORTAL HELPED ME WITH THIS INSTEAD OF HER. ¡°Huh. If that¡¯s the case, I guess I¡¯ll do that ¡®one¡¯ of yours and see where I¡¯ll go from there.¡± I told it. THEN YOU WILL ACCEPT THE FATE OF THE DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY? ¡°May as well if it¡¯s the only way to help you that you know of.¡± I replied. THANK YOU. I WILL DO MY BEST TO AID YOU IN YOUR ENDEAVORS. APPLYING FATE¡­¡­ I felt my insides twist with the change and realized that I did, indeed, have a body again. It was a familiar thing, an almost exact replica of my old one with its pale, unhealthy skin tone and ¡®skin an¡¯ bones¡¯ build that came from not eating nearly enough. It was missing my accumulated scars though which I was grateful for and I had apparently acquired a new tattoo on my right arm. It was of a stylized comet passing in front of a crescent moon with its flaming tail blossoming outward behind it. The comet went from a glowing white at its center to a pale powder blue that made up the majority of its tail flames. It darkened to a fading sapphire blue at the tips of the flames and there was an odd eye nestled in the center of the flames where they were at their widest. I thought it just had an artist¡¯s rendering of a very strange iris¡­. Up until it blinked at me, and I was proven very, very wrong. ¡°Gah! What the Fuck!?!?¡± I exclaimed as I fell on my boney rump in surprise. At the same time, I turned my arm and jerked it away from me so the¡­. thing on my arm couldn¡¯t see me. What I had thought as part of its iris, turned out to be two extra pairs of eyelids. All three of them had closed one after another in a blink before the eye focused on me. The revelation of what it was, was horrendous and I flopped onto my back as I waited for my heart rate to go down. ¡°That was the ¡®Mark¡¯, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I asked rhetorically to the air above me. YES, IT IS. I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT ALERTING YOU TO IT SOONER. ¡°Ug. It¡¯s fine. Just the story of my life.¡± I told the system grumpily. QUITE. YOU EVEN HAD A -1 LUCK STAT WHEN SHARD FIRST BROUGHT YOU TO ME. SHE FIXED IT BEFORE LEAVING SO YOU DON¡¯T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. NOW PLEASE HOLD STILL. YOUR DEMONIC FATE IS BEING HARD TO APPLY TO YOU AS YOU LACK THE NECESSARY NEGATIVE ENERGIES AS ¨C AH! THERE WE GO. ALTERING FATE¡­.. SUCCESS! TRAITS ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯ AND ¡®FERAL STATE¡¯ HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO TRAITS ¡®GLUTTONOUS PRISON¡¯ AND ¡®DEMONIC FORM¡¯ ¡°Um¡­ Explain?¡± I asked the system. The two new abilities sounded better than the old ones to some extent but not by much. YOUR ¡®DEMONIC FORM¡¯ IS DERIVED FROM THE DEMONIZATION PROCESS NON-DEMONIC ENTITIES GO THROUGH WHEN THEY ACQUIRE A DEMONIC FATE AND THE ¡®FERAL STATE¡¯ THAT ALL DEMONIC BEINGS HAVE. UNLIKE THEM, YOURS WILL ONLY BE A TEMPORARY STATE. Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 3 ¡®GLUTTONOUS PRISON¡¯ IS DERIVED FROM ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯. DUE TO HOW MUCH FARTHER AWAY ¡®GLUTTONOUS PRISON¡¯ IS FROM ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯ IT IS CONSIDERED A BRAND NEW SKILL UNLIKE ¡®DEMONIC FORM¡¯. AS A NEW SKILL IT IS CURRENTLY IN FLUX AND MAY GAIN NEW QUALITIES AS IT IS USED BY YOU. IT CURRENTLY LACKS THE AUTOMATIC GAINS OF THE ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯ CONDITION, HOWEVER, IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE FAR MORE VERSATILE THAN ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯. I AM PLEASED. I HAVE PAID FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE CHANGES BECAUSE OF THIS. YOU HAVE ENOUGH KARMIC BALANCE LEFT OVER FOR AN INSTANT REVIVAL. CONVERSELY, YOU CAN ALSO SIMPLY ¡®BANK¡¯ IT FOR YOUR NEXT LIFE OR USE IT TO BOLSTER YOUR STATS. HOWEVER, USING IT TO INCREASE YOUR STATS IS INEFFICIENT. THE MAJORITY OF YOUR STATS WILL HAVE A 10 TO 1 CONVERSION RATE WHILE YOUR CHARISMA IS A 2:1 AND YOUR LUCK IS A 1:1 RATIO. BOOSTING YOUR LUCK IS INADVISABLE AT THIS TIME AS IT ALTERS THE CHANCES FOR BOTH GOOD AND BAD EVENTS AND ENCOUNTERS. CHARISMA IS USED TO BUFFER AGAINST NEGATIVE INTERACTIONS WITH LIVING BEINGS WHILE KARMA IS USED TO BUFFER AGAINST NEGATIVE EVENTS. FOR INSTANCE WITHOUT KARMA, LIKE HOW YOU WILL BE WHEN YOU START, YOU WILL SUFFER MORE ENCOUNTERS WITH HOSTILE MONSTERS WITH EVERY INCREASE WITH YOUR LUCK STAT. ¡°I see¡­ huh.¡± I replied and was quiet for a while until my stomach grumbled at me. I grimaced as an intense hunger made itself known to me and started to claw at my insides. ¡°I thought you fixed that!¡± I complained to the entity currently messing around with my said insides. APOLOGIES BUT THIS IS NOT FROM ¡®ENDLESS HUNGER¡¯. IT IS FROM YOUR ¡®STARVED¡¯ STATE. I AM UNABLE TO REMOVE IT BY FORCE. IF YOU HAD CHOSEN TO BECOME A DEMON OR ANOTHER RACE ALL TOGETHER OR HAD REJECTED THE FATE I HAD OFFERED YOU, I MAY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. AS IT IS, NEITHER OF US HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO FIX IT AT THIS TIME. ¡°What about this ¡®Shard¡¯? Why didn¡¯t she do anything to fix this?¡± I asked them. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT SHE WAS FAIRLY LEERY ABOUT ALTERING YOUR EXISTENCE FURTHER THAN SHE ALREADY HAD. WHEN I QUESTIONED HER ABOUT IT FURTHER, SHE CLAIMED THAT YOU WERE IN A ¡®FRAGILE STATE OF BEING¡¯ AT THE TIME AND WOULD NOT ELABORATE. SHE DID SAY THAT YOU WOULD STABILIZE IF GIVEN TIME HOWEVER. AS IT IS, YOU WILL HAVE TO EAT SOON AS YOU MANIFEST OR YOUR HEALTH WILL STEADILY DECREASE. FORTUNATELY, ANY ORGANIC SUBSTANCE WILL DO IN ORDER TO ALLEVIATE THE SYMPTOMS. ¡°Alright.¡± I replied before a thought came to me and I smirked. ¡°Does that mean I can eat shit and live?¡± I asked it innocently. Well, semi-innocently. I was curious about how it would react to the suggestion. YES. PLEASE DON¡¯T. THAT IS DISGUSTING. NOT TO MENTION NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AT ALLEVIATING YOUR HUNGER. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t, even I have my boundaries but it¡¯s nice to know it¡¯s an option if I got nothing else.¡± I assured it. SAMUEL JACKSON, DRIED LEAVES, STICKS, AND OLD BONES WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THAT. PLEASE UP YOUR LUCK AND KARMA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO YOU DO NOT FIND YOURSELF IN SUCH A PREDICAMENT. I knew that I probably shouldn¡¯t, but I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the feeling of disapproval radiating from the powerful being. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD INVEST IN WISDOM AND CHARISMA AS WELL. YOU ARE ACTING FOOLISH. ¡°I know but I¡¯ve been starving for a while too. It¡¯s probably getting to me again.¡± I told it before asking. ¡°How much longer until I¡¯m alive again?¡± SOON. I AM DECIDING WHERE I SHOULD PUT YOU. ¡°Oh, crap. You¡¯re going to make me pay for those ¡®shit¡¯ inquires, aren¡¯t you?¡± I asked it with more than a little trepidation. YES. YOU WILL NOT LIKE WHERE YOU END UP BUT I WILL NOT LET YOU DIE SO EASILY EITHER. ¡°Shit.¡± was all I managed to say before the not quite a place I was in twisted and warped around me. When things began to settle, I found myself laying on the dust covered stone floor of a squared off tunnel. It was dark in there but not completely lightless as there was a softly pulsing glow that gave me just enough to see by. It came from archaic symbols and runes that lined every inch of flat surface that I could see. I sat up to stare at wonder for a moment until a familiar presence intruded in my mind. AH, GOOD. YOU MANIFESTED SAFELY. THAT IS A RELIEF. COME NOW YOU HAVE WORK TO DO BUT FIRST WE NEED TO GET YOU SOMETHING TO EAT. ¡°Wait, what?¡­ Wait a minute! You put me in one of those mana absorbing thingies didn¡¯t you!¡± I protested without getting up and glared at the empty air above me. YES, I DID. BUT TO BE MORE PRECISE, I PLACED YOU WITHIN THE FACILITY AROUND ONE. BOTH IT AND THE FACILITY ARE PROTOTYPES AND ARE THE WEAKEST ONE I KNOW OF. THERE SHOULD BE A CONTAINMENT AREA SOMEWHERE WITH IN HERE THAT YOU CAN FIND SOME ¡®FOOD¡¯ FOR YOURSELF TO HELP STAVE OFF THE EFFECT OF CONTINUED ¡®STARVATION¡¯. THERE IS AN EVER-GROWING ARRAY EXTENDING OUTWARD FROM THE FACILITY THAT IS COLLECTING THE MANA IN THE SURROUNDING AREA. MONSTERS AND DEMONIC CREATURES CONTAIN HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF MANA AND THEREFORE ARE TARGETS OF COLLECTION. YOU MAY EVEN ACQUIRE A COMPANION ONCE WE ARRIVE AT THE CONTAINMENT AREA. THIS FACILITY IS LOCATED ON THE EDGE OF WHAT WAS ONCE THE TERRITORY OF THE DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR. HE DISAPPEARED SHORTLY AFTER THE MANA ABSORPTION OF THE AREA BEGAN SO THERE IS A CHANCE THAT HE MAY STILL BE HERE. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that like thousands of ¨C Ow!¡± I cried out as I was interrupted mid thought by something biting me on the leg. I grabbed it and tore it off me out reflex to fling it away from me, but my hand wouldn¡¯t open. The aborted throw did stun the little shit that bit me, so I didn¡¯t have to worry about it as the System distracted me from it. WAIT! YOU CAN EAT THAT! DON¡¯T THROW IT AWAY! ¡°What!?¡± I demanded. YOU CAN EAT THAT! IT IS A MANA RAT. IT WON¡¯T BE MUCH BUT IT WILL BE BETTER THAN THE NOTHING YOU HAVE NOW. ¡°Really?¡± I questioned. YES, REALLY. OR WOULD YOU LIKE A FULL-SIZED MONSTER AS YOUR FIRST MEAL? MANA RATS ARE CLASSIFIED AS TYPE OF ¡®VERMIN¡¯. VERMIN ARE THE WEAKEST OF THE WEAK AND ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE ON THE BAREST TRACE OF MANA. THEY WILL NOT CURE YOU OF YOUR ¡®STARVATION¡¯ STATUS BUT THEY WILL ALLEVIATE THE SYMPTOMS FOR A TIME. ¡°Ug. I¡¯m in another world and I¡¯m still reduced to eating rats to survive. Figures.¡± I muttered to myself as I examined my catch. It was definitely a rat, just one that was way bigger than anything I had the misfortune of eating before. It was the size of a small cat and had a glowing pattern under its fur that pulsed in time with the markings in the tunnel, providing it with a form of camouflage. Other than its size and the glowing, it was disappointingly normal. Particularly after looking at the eldritch mark on my arm. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I could practice one of my¡­. ¡®skills¡¯ on this instead?¡± I asked. YOU CAN. IT WOULD BE MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF THE ANIMAL IF YOU USE THE INNATE SKILL OF YOUR ¡®DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY¡¯ FATE. ALL SKILLS ARE TRIGGERED BY A FOCUSED INTENT. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOW YOU HOW? ¡°That would be helpful.¡± I told the system with more than a bit of trepidation. I didn¡¯t have time to worry for very long as I felt a change come over me and I lost control of my body. I felt something unlock or connect inside of my mind and suddenly I knew what I had to do. What I needed to think. To feel. To Consume This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. My mouth automatically opened as the skill activated and the space within it expanded. At the same time, the rat that I was holding got sucked into it, filling it before my jaws snapped shut behind the unfortunate creature. Something at the back of my throat crushed the life out of it when the skill had me swallow it before sending it down to my stomach for digestion. Or what I thought was my stomach. Either way, once all of that was over, I immediately leaned over to the side and dry heaved a few times as I reacted to what had happened. ¡°Is it always going to be like that?¡± I asked the system after I spat out a mouthful of bile that had eventually come up. NO. THIS WAS YOUR FIRST TIME USING AN ACTIVE SKILL. THE FIRST TIME IS ALWAYS THE ROUGHEST AND FATE SKILLS TEND TO BE THE HARDEST HITTING WHEN THEY ARE FIRST USED. ADD TO THAT YOUR STARVED STATE AND YOU GET A RATHER MISERABLE FORM OF BACKLASH. IT WILL HOWEVER GET BETTER WITH PRACTICE. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± I muttered before getting distracted by a blinking light in the corner of my vision. The moment I focused on it; my sight was swarmed with transparent, blue boxed messages. WARNING! YOU ARE UNDER ATTACK! MANA RAT HAS USED DRAIN BITE! -10 MANA YOU ARE WOUNDED! DUE TO YOUR WEAKENED STATE, YOU HAVE BEEN INFLICTED WITH BLEED(MINOR) YOU HAVE CAPTURED MANA RAT! DUE TO YOUR ACTIONS, YOU HAVE STUNNED MANA RAT FOR FIVE SECONDS! -1 HEALTH DUE TO BLEED(MINOR) MANA RAT HAS RECOVERED FROM STUN. MANA RAT HAS CHOSEN TO ¡®PLAY DEAD¡¯ -1 HEALTH DUE TO BLEED(MINOR) -1 HEALTH DUE TO BLEED(MINOR) WOUND HAS CLOTTED. BLEED(MINOR) HAS BEEN REMOVED YOU HAVE ACTIVATED CONSUME FOR THE FIRST TIME. MANA RAT HAS BEEN CONSUMED MANA RAT HAS BEEN SLAIN NO EXPERIENCE REWARDED FOR SLAYING A LEVEL 0 VERMIN DIGESTION OF MANA RAT CORPSE HAS BEGUN. As I finished reading the last one, more messages popped into veiw. DIGESTION OF MANA RAT CORPSE HAS BEEN COMPLETED FATE OF THE DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY HAS HEALED ALL WOUNDS DUE TO THE CONSUMPTION AND DIGESTION OF AN ENEMY. YOUR HEALTH HAS BEEN FULLY RESTORED YOUR MANA HAS BEEN REFILLED PENALTIES OF THE CONDITION ¡®STARVATION¡¯ HAVE ALLEVIATED FOR ONE HOUR NO OTHER REWARDS GIVEN DUE TO MANA RAT BEING A LEVEL 0 VERMIN As the last message faded away, I felt better than I had in a long time and my leg no longer hurt from the bite wound. ¡°What was that all about? Those messages¡­.?¡± I asked the System. YOU CAN THINK OF THEM AS A TYPE OF EVENT LOG. RECORDING HARM AND ADVANCEMENTS ARE IT¡¯S MOST BASIC FUNCTION. WHAT INFORMATION IT WILL SHOW CAN BE INCREASED VIA HIGHER CHARISMA OR SKILLS. ¡°Alright¡­ I should probably get going shouldn¡¯t I?¡± THAT WOULD BE A PREFERRED ACTION. ¡°Fine.¡± I said as I got up. I took a moment to get my bearings and noticed that the pulsing glow had a direction. There was only one and I didn¡¯t see any splits or doors leading off the tunnel, so I decided to follow it and see what happened. The System entity didn¡¯t say anything to nay say my choice which probably meant that it was the right way to go. After a while, with no real change in other than the pattern of the symbols on the floor, ceiling, and walls and with the added bonus of nothing try to bite my ankles, I assumed it was safe enough to check my stats and assign the free points that I had apparently earned while I was dead. NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson) RACE: Human AGE: 18 SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained) FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony STATUS: System Champion STATS: Level: 0 Health: 50/50 Mana: 120/120 Stamina: 5/5 CP: 0/0 Strength: 3 Vitality: 5 Endurance: 5 Defense: 1 Wisdom: 3 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 3 Dexterity: 4 Charisma: 0 Luck: 0 Free Attribute Points: 30 SKILLS: Stealth, Consume(Fate, Core ability), Gluttonous Prison(Fate, empty, in flux), Demonic Form (Fate, inactive), Traits: Enhanced senses(Fate, passive) AFFLICTIONS: Starvation(suspended/50:02) BONUSES: None OTHER: Mark of the Eldritch (Shard)(3 acquired boons) Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 4 Once I had it up, I noticed several changes had been added to it since I had woken up. Most notable were the two new tabs on the side, one being labeled as Inventory while the other was the Karmic Store. There was also a change in my physical resources as well as my Endurance. I had more points than I was expecting as well. ¡°Um¡­ what gives with the points? I thought I was only going to get 9 after what I went through on the other side and what¡¯s with my Endurance? I thought that was lower.¡± I asked it. THE ENDURANCE INCREASE IS FROM BEING ATTACK WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR OF YOUR NEW LIFE. THE EXTRA POINTS ARE FROM ACCEPTING THE FATE AND A FEW OTHER THINGS FROM THE PREVIOUS LIST. I DID NOT ANNOUNCE THEM AS THEY WEREN¡¯T NEEDED. THE FIRST ONE WAS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THERE WERE LISTS IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU HAVE MISSED OUT ON A FEW ON THE PREVIOUS LIST HENCE THE BOONS. ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t suppose you have any suggestions as to where I should put them? The points, I mean.¡± I inquired. NOT REALLY. KEEP IN MIND THAT I WILL NEED YOU TO BE FAIRLY VERSATILE IF YOU ARE TO SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN. YOU WILL ALSO BE GETTING MORE THAN TWICE THE POINTS PER LEVEL UP THAN A NORMAL HUMAN AS YOU ARE MY CHAMPION PLUS WHATEVER POINTS YOU RECEIVE AS REWARDS FROM SHARD. IN SHORT, YOU CAN BE AS SPECIALIZE OR NOT AS YOU WANT WITHOUT WORRYING TOO MUCH ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES. JUST KEEP IN MIND MY WARNINGS ABOUT LUCK AND THE ABSENCE OF CHARISMA AND KARMA. ¡°More Luck means I¡¯ll encounter more Vermin while I¡¯m here, correct?¡± I guessed YOU ARE. TOO MUCH LUCK HOWEVER WILL BRING SOMETHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN JUST THE OCCASIONAL VERMIN. ¡°I¡¯ll just spread them out evenly as I can for now, I guess. Is there anything else I can do with it? I¡¯d like to move my fate and mark stuff to their own tabs and hide them if I can. They look like they are going to be all kinds of trouble later.¡± I told it. YOUR ASSUMPTION IS MOST LIKELY CORRECT. MOVING THEM TO THEIR OWN TAB WILL ALSO AUTOMATICALLY HIDE THEM. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO THAT FOR YOU? ¡°Sure, so long as I don¡¯t owe you anything.¡± I replied. DO NOT WORRY, SAMUEL JACKSON. CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM INTERFACE IS FREE FOR LEVEL 0 BEINGS. AFTERWARDS, A SMALL KARMIC PRICE IS REQUIRED. YOU, HOWEVER, DO NOT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT EITHER. NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL YOU ARE, SO LONG AS YOU REMAIN MY CHAMPION, SUCH FRIVOLOUS CHANGES WILL BE FREE. ¡°I see. I suppose the downside to this is in the store?¡± I asked it. YOU ARE CORRECT, SAMUEL JACKSON. HOWEVER, THAT CAN WAIT UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE KARMA TO SPEND. ¡°True.¡± I commented before returning my attention to my status page. While I had been talking, the system had taken the liberty of modifying it like I had asked. My ¡®Fate¡¯ tab looked normal enough and had the desired effect of removing my fate related skills and traits while making my fate and ¡®CP¡¯ gauge ¡®hidden¡¯ on the main page. I could still see it myself, but I doubt others could with whatever general identifying skills I may encounter. As for my ¡®Mark¡¯ it was gone altogether from the page and had its own¡­ ¡®unique¡¯ tab. I eyed it with trepidation as the tab was bordered with pale blue tendrils and more tri-lidded eyes that I swore moved while I wasn¡¯t looking at it. I swore to myself never to open it unless I was desperate (which I doubted would ever happen) or very bored and in need of some more nightmare fuel. Very, extremely bored. With that sorted through, I went on to assign my stats and came across a bit of an impasse. When I confirmed my selections very few of them went through and I couldn¡¯t change them. NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson) RACE: Human AGE: 18 SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained) FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony(hidden) STATUS: System Champion STATS: Level: 0 Health: 50/50+10(reserved due to low resources) Mana: 120/120 Stamina: 5/5+1(reserved due to low resources) CP (hidden): 0/0 Strength: 3+3(reserved due to low resources) Vitality: 5+1(reserved due to low resources) Endurance: 5+1(reserved due to low resources) Defense: 1+5(reserved due to low resources) Wisdom: 6 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 3+3(reserved due to low resources) Dexterity: 4+2(reserved due to low resources) Charisma: 2+5(reserved due to low resources) Luck: 7 Free Attribute Points: 0 SKILLS: Stealth AFFLICTIONS: Starvation(suspended/40:05) BONUSES: None OTHER: None ¡°Hey! What gives!¡± I complained as I saw the points not go through on the majority of my stats. HMM¡­. IT APPEARS THAT BEING IN A PROLONGED STARVED STATE HAS OTHER DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS. I APOLOGIZE AS I WAS NOT AWARE THIS COULD HAPPEN. MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN A PROLONGED STARVATION STATE ARE USUALLY DEAD BY THIS POINT. ¡°And those who survive?¡± I inquired having a good idea of what the answer might be. I was proven correct when the system replied. THEY ARE DEMONS. THAT ARE ABLE TO DRAW ENERGY FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO SOLIDIFY THEIR ADVANCEMENTS OR RECYCLE IT FROM OTHER AREAS OF THEIR EXISTENCE WHEN THEIR BODIES LACK THE APPROPRIATE RESERVES. IT IS PART OF WHY DEMONS ARE SO HATED. AS YOU CAN EXPECT, DRAWING ON THEIR SURROUNDING FOR RESOURCES IS FAIRLY DESTRUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS FOR THOSE NEARBY. THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE IMMUNE ARE DEMONS STRONGER THAN THE ONE ADVANCING. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Figures. Yet another reason why I was right as to not choose ¡®demon¡¯ as my race.¡± I muttered in annoyance. CORRECT. YOU SHOULD CHECK YOUR INVENTORY BY THE WAY. ¡°Why? I haven¡¯t picked up anything yet and you haven¡¯t given me anything.¡± I told it and narrowed my eyes at nothing with suspicion. ¡°Have you?¡± I HAVE. I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD EXPLORE YOU INVENTORY SOONER. ¡°That¡¯s assuming I knew I could have one.¡± I told it. TRUE. APOLOGIES. INVENTORY IS IN TRUTH AN ABILITY THAT NOT ALL BEINGS HAVE ACCESS TO HERE. IT IS ONE THAT IS LEARNED WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY AND IS DEPENDENT ON BOTH YOUR STRENGTH AND INTELLIGENCE ATTRIBUTES. ¡°And you just gave it to me?¡± I asked in disbelief. CORRECT. HOWEVER, IT IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED REGARDLESS OF YOUR CHOICES PRIOR TO YOUR REVIVAL. IT WAS SOMETHING SHARD INSISTED ON CONSIDERING THE BOON IT WOULD BE TO YOU. ¡°Huh. I guess she¡¯s really is looking out for me. That doesn¡¯t change the fact that her mark is still freaky as hell.¡± I replied. AGREED. With nothing else to stall with, I bit the bullet to see how long I¡¯ve been running around in my birthday suit with my junk undefended. I touched the Inventory tab to activate it and another window popped up in front of my stat page. It held 12 spaces but two thirds of them had the unpleasant addition of tendrils and eyes like the ones around my Mark tab. I frowned at them before taking stock of what I had. There were four greyed out boxes with question marks taking up the bottom row that I couldn¡¯t access so I turned my attention to what I could. Six of the remaining spots in my innovatory had items in it, one of them being some kind of flask. As for the others, there was something called a clothing set, what looked to be a knife, a chisel, a bundle of cloth wrappings and a rock. I took the flask out first, hoping it had water in it as I realized how thirsty I was now that I saw it. It was a round, funnel shaped affair with a flat bottom. It was the size of my fist and was made mainly out of stitched together stiff leather. There was a gently glowing blue stone embedded near the opening and a pair of leather cords that I assumed were used to tie it onto a belt or the like. Another connected the cap to the flask so it wouldn¡¯t get lost. It felt empty in my hand, but I popped the cap off it regardless in case it was a magic item of some kind. To my delight, it was, and I drank my fill of the cool sweet liquid it produced before stopping to wash the blood from my leg. I wasn¡¯t certain of its limits but using a little to clean up my blood to keep from attracting unwanted attention seemed prudent. ¡°Say, System, how much water can this little thing produce?¡± I asked the entity as I wiped the blood off myself. THE WATER CRYSTAL EMBEDDED IN IT ALLOWS THE ¡®FLASK OF UNENDING WATER¡¯ TO PRODUCE SEVERAL GALLONS OF WATER PER CHARGE. IT CAN BE RECHARGED THROUGH THE AMBIENT MANA IN THE AIR, IMMERSION IN AN ADEQUATELY SIZED WATER SOURCE, OR FROM YOUR OWN RESERVES OF MANA. CONVERSELY YOU CAN ALSO REFILL YOUR RESERVE WITH WATER FROM THE FLASK BECAUSE OF HOW IT IS GENERATED. HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE WITH DIMINISHING RETURNS IN MANA POOR AREAS LIKE THIS. ¡°So, one or the other, not both. Got it. Anything else?¡± I asked it as I went to wash off some of the dirt my bare self had collected since my revival. I assumed I had been squeaky clean at the time considering how bare I was ¨C I didn¡¯t even have any hair ¨C but I had accumulated dust and dirt at a surprising rate afterwards. YES. WITH THE FUNCTION OF RECHARGING WHEN IMMERSED IN WATER, YOU CAN PRODUCE A DRINKABLE SOURCE FROM AN UNDRINKABLE ONE. ¡°Sounds expensive¡­. wait why this and not food?¡± I demanded. SAMUEL JACKSON, CONSUMABLES ARE MORE COSTLY FOR ME TO PRODUCE WHEN COMPARED WITH REUSABLE ITEMS. CONSIDERING HOW THE ¡®GLUTTONOUS PRISON¡¯ SKILL OF YOUR ¡®DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY¡¯ FATE WILL ALLOW YOU TO STORE EXCESS FOOD WITHIN YOU AS WELL AS THE FATE WIDENING YOUR OPTIONS FOR WHAT YOU CAN EAT, I THOUGHT IT WAS PRUDENT TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER RATHER THAN A FEW LOAVES OF BREAD. PARTICULARLY WHEN THIS PLACE IS SURROUNDED WITH A VAST DESERT WASTELAND. I COULD HAVE PROVIDED YOU WITH A SKILL SCROLL INSTEAD BUT THAT WOULD REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE SOME UNDERSTANDING OF MAGIC AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS EXPENSIVE AS THE FLASK WITHOUT THE CERTAINTY. ¡°You¡¯re still angry about the ¡®shit eating¡¯ thing, aren''t you?¡± I said with a grimace as I endured the scolding. THAT TOO. Properly reprimanded, I finished cleaning myself in silence and put the flask back in my inventory for later. I felt better after washing and even though it wasn¡¯t a proper anything, it was still better than nothing. And it was a lot more than I had for a while back home. After going for years without any real way of cleaning myself, I wanted to keep it that way for as much as possible. With that done, I turned my attention to the clothing set. It looked fairly self-explanatory but when I reached to retrieve it from its inventory slot, I was presented with two choices. One was to ¡®EQUIP¡¯ while the other was to ¡®REMOVE¡¯. Curious, I chose ¡®EQUIP¡¯ and was treated to the bizarre and unique feeling of having clothes suddenly ¡®wmuph¡¯ into existence on my previously bare body. I yelped in surprise and then again when I scrambled to keep my newly acquired pants and under shorts from falling off my starved ass. They were both simply made out of a surprisingly soft cloth, and both had drawstrings through their respective waist bands to adjust their fit. I did just that and took stock of what else I had been granted from the set while I tightened and tied them off. I had been given a pair of leather fingerless gloves, socks, a short sleeve shirt, and a long cloak with a stiff hood. ¡°Ummm¡­ no shoes?¡± I asked idly as I checked out my feet. SHOES ARE NOT CLOTHES. YOU CAN BUY THEM LATER IN THE STORE. YOU DON¡¯T CURRENTLY NEED THEM ASIDE PROTECTING YOUR FEET FROM MANA RAT BITES. ¡°I thought as much. Not enough for those too?¡± I asked as I took the sock off my feet and returned them to my inventory where the clothing set had been. After a moment, I took off the cloak too and stuck it in an empty one. NO. I WAS TRYING TO KEEP MY EXPENDITURES TO A MINIMUM. I COULD ONLY GIVE YOU ITEMS SOMEWHAT FREELY PRIOR TO YOUR REVIVAL AND YOU HAD LIMITED SPACE. ¡°Speaking of which, what is up with the¡­. weirdness?¡± I asked. Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 5 APPARENTLY, YOUR STARVED STATE HAS ALSO INTERFERED WITH YOUR ABILITY TO CARRY ITEMS IN YOUR INVENTORY. ITS ABILITLY TO STORE ITEMS IS BASED ON YOUR INTELLIGENCE AND STRENGTH STATS AND IT SEEMS LIKE YOUR MARK IS CURRENTLY HELPING YOU TO SUPPORT ITS CURRENT MAXIMUM. FROM WHAT I CAN UNDERSTAND, THE LOCKED MYSTERY ITEMS ARE SOUL BOUND ITEMS THAT SHARD CREATED FOR YOU BEFORE LEAVING YOU WITH ME. THEY ARE YOURS AND WILL ALWAYS BE SO BUT YOU MUST EARN THEM FIRST. ¡°I suppose they¡¯re potentially very powerful and you can¡¯t tell me anything about them.¡± I guessed. YOU ARE CORRECT. Too disappointed to explore my items further, I sighed and closed my inventory. It was followed by my disappointing status page, and I continued on my way. I didn¡¯t know how much time had passed before a dark mass dropped from the ceiling in front of me and landed on what I assumed was another Mana Rat. It certainly screamed like one. Startled by the sudden action, I yelped in surprise and stumbled back to fall on my rump again. The mass turned towards me in response, and I was treated to the view of a giant monster spider as its glowing camouflage changed to highlight its features. It was the size of a basset hound and twice as fat with six thick legs, four large glowing eyes, and two extra-long, hairy ¡®feelers¡¯ that it was waving at me in alarm. I shrunk back from it and its glowing lessened as it turned to chewing on the rat it had caught and killed. It kept brushing me with its feelers, most likely to keep track of me while it ate. ¡°Let me guess, a level 0 mana spider?¡± I assumed. YOU ARE CORRECT. MANA SPIDERS ARE A NON-AGGRESSIVE TYPE OF VERMIN THAT PREY ON SMALLER VERMIN. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT ATTACKING YOU UNLESS YOU THREATEN IT OR TRY TO STEAL ITS KILL. EVEN IN A SWARM, THEY WILL NOT ATTACK THINGS THAT ARE BIGGER THAN IT. IT ALSO MEANS THAT WE ARE GETTING CLOSER TO THE LEAK. BIGGER VERMIN EQUAL MORE AMBIENT MANA. ¡°That¡¯s good to know, I guess. I take it, mana rats are dangerous in a swarm?¡± I asked. YES, AND YOU ARE STALLING. YOU NEED TO EAT AS YOU ONLY HAVE 10 MINUTES LEFT BEFORE YOUR STARVATION STARTS TO EFFECT YOU AGAIN. ¡°Damnit. I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t notice. This is going to be a new low for me. I¡¯ve never stooped so low as having to eat bugs to survive.¡± I commented as I eyed the massive arachnid before me. FROM WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT WHERE YOU WERE FOUND BY SHARD, THERE WAS A HIGH CHANCE OF YOU GETTING SICK FROM EATING AND POSSIBLY DYING FROM THE RESULTING ILLNESS. ON THE UPSIDE, YOUR DEMONIC FATE WILL PROTECT YOU FROM FALLING ILL IN MOST CASES. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. ALSO, I HAVE HEARD THEY TASTE VERY GOOD. I DO NOT EAT MYSELF SO I DO NOT KNOW. I HAVE HOWEVER SEEN DEMONS EATING THEM WITH RELISH WHENEVER THEY GET THE CHANCE. EVEN HIGHER-LEVEL DEMONS WILL GO AFTER THEM EVEN WHEN THERE IS BETTER QUALITY PREY AROUND. ¡°Huh. Really?¡± I asked. YES. REALLY. ¡°Alright. Do I need to touch it in order to use the skill on it?¡± FOR NOW, YES. GETTING CLOSER TO THE CENTER MASS WILL ALSO HELP UNTIL YOU GET USED TO IT. I nodded numbly at the advice and confirmation before inching my way closer across the floor to the overgrown nightmare fuel. I tried to make myself seem as nonthreatening as possible so it wouldn¡¯t attack or worse, run away before I could catch it. I wouldn¡¯t blame it if it did ¨C I wouldn¡¯t want to end up as someone¡¯s meal either ¨C but I needed to eat as much as anyone else did. I also didn¡¯t want to die from starvation so soon after coming back and I knew I was starting to cut it close. I felt a familiar weakness accompanied with clawing hunger pains just as I got close enough to touch it. It had paused in its eating of the rat to watch me warily but seemed to relax and returned to its meal when all I did was gently pet one of its supporting legs. I mumbled a soft apology to it before lunging forward and grabbing the leg I had been petting. I immediately activated the skill before the spider could retaliate and felt it take control of my body. Like the first time, I felt the space inside of my mouth grow when it opened, and the spider shrieked in fear as it was sucked into it. It was also crushed at the back of my throat like the rat from earlier had been as I swallowed it and again my stomach rebelled when the skill released me. This time there was still some water in it from earlier and I ended up emptying it out onto the floor. Once everything had settled down inside of me, I grabbed the magic flask of water from my inventory and quickly rinsed the taste of bile and acid from my mouth. ¡°Gah. Is it always going to be this rough every time I use this skill?¡± I asked the system as I put away the flask. LIKE I MENTIONED EARLIER, IT SHOULD GET BETTER WITH EACH USE. KEEP IN MIND, THE ORIGIN OF THIS SKILL WAS ALSO INTENDED TO ONLY BE USED BY A DEMONIC BEING. PROBLEMS ARE TO BE EXPECTED. YOU MUST ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT OF YOUR OWN REACTIONS TO USING IT. ¡°So, there¡¯s also a mind related thing to this?¡± THERE MAY VERY WELL BE ONE. ¡°Greeaat. That¡¯s one more thing to add to the shit pile.¡± I groaned back. DO YOU REGRET YOUR CHOICES PRIOR TO YOUR REVIVAL? ¡°I¡¯m starting to, but I can¡¯t change them now. I¡¯ll see where I go from here once this mana thingy is taken care of and I¡¯m back in civilization. I still need to get out of here alive.¡± I told it. THAT IS FAIR. ONCE YOU HAVE, YOU WILL HAVE DONE WHAT I HAVE ASKED. YOU MAY DO WHATEVER YOU WANT AFTERWARDS AS PROMISED. I nodded in agreement to that and turned my attention to my waiting messages. I had felt my strength return while we had been talking which meant my fate had finished digesting something. YOU HAVE CAPTURED A FEEDING MANA SPIDER! YOU HAVE USED CONSUME ON FEEDING MANA SPIDER FEEDING MANA SPIDER HAS BEEN SLAIN MANA SPIDER IS A LEVEL 0 VERMIN. NO EXPERIENCE GAINED. YOU HAVE SWALLOWED 1 MANA SPIDER CORPSE AND 1 HALF DIGESTED MANA RAT CORPSE DIGESTION HAS BEGUN ON MANA RAT CORPSE
DIGESTION OF MANA RAT CORPSE HAD BEEN COMPLETED Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. YOU HAVE RECEIVED ONE HALF HOUR OF RELIEF FROM STARVATION PENALTIES DIGESTION OF MANA SPIDER CORPSE HAS BEGUN. I waited for a while longer for more messages, but none were forth coming. It made sense for it take longer than just a rat since it was quite a bit bigger. Instead of waiting around for it to finish, I got up and continued on my way down the tunnel. I started finding rooms and more tunnels not long after that, but the direction of the pulsing converged into the one I was in, and I could always explore the complex later if I survived. I doubted I would find anything useful in here after all this time, but I could always hope. I was attacked by another rat along the way, and I kicked it in retaliation. Neither the blow nor it being thrown into the wall killed it, but it was enough to scare it away. I let it go as my message indicator had started to blink at me. WARNING! YOU HAVE BEEN ATTACKED! MANA RAT MISSES YOU HAVE KICKED AN ENEMY MANA RAT FLEES YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE DIGESTION OF MANA SPIDER CORPSE FATE OF THE DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY HAS GRANTED STORED STATS DUE TO THE CONSUMPTION AND DIGESTION OF A MIDDLE-SIZED ENEMY. YOU HAVE UNLOCKED +1 ENDURANCE YOU HAVE UNLOCKED +1 VITALITY YOU HAVE UNLOCKED +1 STRENGTH YOUR HEALTH HAS BEEN FULLY RESTORED YOUR MANA HAS BEEN REFILLED YOUR STAMINA HAS BEEN REFILLED PENALTIES OF THE CONDITION ¡®STARVATION¡¯ HAVE ALLEVIATED FOR THREE MORE HOURS NO OTHER REWARDS GIVEN DUE TO MANA SPIDER BEING A LEVEL 0 VERMIN I raised an eyebrow at the results from the mana spider not expecting to get anything before dismissing the messages and opening my stat page to check the results. NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson) RACE: Human AGE: 18 SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained) FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony(hidden) STATUS: System Champion STATS: Level: 0 Health: 60/60 Mana: 120/120 Stamina: 6/6 CP(hidden): 0/0 Strength: 4+2(reserved due to low resources) Vitality: 6 Endurance: 6 Defense: 1+5(reserved due to low resources) Wisdom: 6 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 3+3(reserved due to low resources) Dexterity: 4+2(reserved due to low resources) Charisma: 2+5(reserved due to low resources) Luck: 7 Free Attribute Points: 0 SKILLS: Stealth AFFLICTIONS: Starvation(suspended/3:10:20) BONUSES: None OTHER: None ¡°Looks like eating these things does have some good come out of it.¡± I commented idly before continuing. I started to encounter more critters after that, but they were mostly mana rats and no real use to me other than adding time to keep my starvation at bay. I did encounter several more mana spiders as well and those I did eat until they stopped unlocking stats for me. I left them alone after that and even saved a little white one that was called an Albino Mana Spider Sling. A mana rat was attacking it when I found it, and it had lost a few of its legs before I could get the rat off it. It was no bigger than the palm of my hand and it was covered in a layer of fine hairs that were silky soft ¨C where it wasn¡¯t sticky with its blood. Feeling sorry for the little peaceful critter, I took to carrying it with me to protect it. As for the rat? Well, I made an exception and ate it. It was the last aggressive rat I came across as the critters turned peaceful and more plentiful. The reason soon became clear when the tunnel ended in a massive cavern filled with a great number of glowing pillars that stretched from floor to ceiling and were so wide that not even three of me could have reach all the way around them. One of them near the entrance had a small crack in it and a thin stream of glowing fluid flowing from it. The crack, the stream, and the small pool it ended in were surrounded with small crystals that matched the pillars. More crystals were scattered about the cavern but were hard to see on the account of all the life that was in there. There were the mana rats and spiders that I was familiar with along with the mana wisps the System had told me about. However, there was so much more than them in here that the System had not told me about. There were bats the size of my head flying around. Glowing beetles of all kinds ranging from the size of my thumb to beach balls. Floating jelly fish that gently bobbed up and down in the air with every movement. Glowing moss, fungi, and lichen that covered the walls, floor and ceiling in great spanning mats. ¡°Woah! I think we found your leak!¡± I exclaimed as I spun slowly in a circle in a vain attempt to take it all in with my eyes. INDEED. IT APPEARS THIS PLACE WILL BE WELL ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING A DUNGEON ONCE THE MANA ABSORPTION HAS BEEN DISABLED. ¡°Is that a bad thing?¡± I asked in concern. Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 6 NOT NECESSARILY. DUNGEONS EXIST TO MANAGE THE FLOW OF MANA IN AN AREA AND CONSTRAIN MONSTERS. IN AN AREA WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF MANA BUT NO DUNGEON, THE AREA WILL BE OVERRUN WITH THEM ON A FAIRLY REGULAR BASIS AND POWERFUL ONES AT THAT. IF THAT SAME AREA HAS A DUNGEON, THE MONSTERS WITHIN IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN WHAT THE AREA WOULD HAVE HAD BUT THEY WOULD BE CONFINED WITHIN THE DUNGEON. OUTSIDE OF IT, THE MONSTERS WOULD BE MUCH WEAKER AND WOULD SPAWN AT A STEADY RATE RATHER THAN IN SURGES. MOST OF THE TIME, AT LEAST. THAT ASIDE, DUNGEONS CAN BE EITHER BENIGN AND SAFE IN NATURE OR MALICIOUS AND DANGEROUS. THAT DOESN¡¯T CHANGE THEIR PURPOSE. HOPEFULLY IT WILL REMAIN PEACEFUL LIKE IT IS NOW. ¡°Is there any away to keep it like this?¡± I ask. CAREFUL TENDING WHILE A CORE IS DEVELOPING DOES INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME. IF A BENIGN BEING CARES FOR AND PROTECTS THE DUNGEON CORE WHILE IT IS FORMING AND MATURING THEN IT WILL IMPRINT UPON THEM. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, IT WILL TAKE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS PROTECTOR AND RETAIN THEM THROUGHOUT ITS ENTIRE EXISTENCE. IF THEY ARE PEACEFUL AND BENIGN, THEN SO TOO WILL BE THE DUNGEON. IF NOT¡­. WELL, YOU GET THE IDEA. HOWEVER, A BENIGN DUNGEON CAN BECOME MILDLY DANGEROUS IF ABUSED BUT THE REVERSE CAN NOT BE SAID OF MALICIOUS ONES. ¡°So good ones will stay mainly good while bad ones can only get worse, I take it.¡± I said, putting two and two together. CORRECT. ¡°I¡¯m not really looking forward to full filling that role, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re going to tell me to do next.¡± I told the System, having a vague thought of where this was going. DO NOT WORRY, SAMUEL. ALTHOUGH THE THOUGHT IS APPRECIATED, I WILL NOT ASK YOU TO STAY IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO. WITH THAT SAID, THE CARETAKER OF THE DEVELOPING DUNGEON DOES NOT NEED TO BE A PERSON. A WELL CARED FOR CREATURE ADEQUATE IN NATURE AND TEMPERAMENT MAY ALSO TAKE ON THAT ROLE ALTHOUGH IT MAY BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT SINCE ¡®TRAINING¡¯ MUST BEGIN AT INFANCY OR CLOSE TO IT. FORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE SUCH A CREATURE IN YOUR HANDS. IT WILL BE GOOD FORM GUIDANCE FOR THE DUNGEON ONCE IT HAS EVOLVED INTO A MONSTER. ALSO, IT HAS ALREADY LEARNED TWO ¡®LESSONS¡¯ 1. RATS ARE DANGEROUS 2. HUMANS PROVIDE SAFETY EVEN IF YOU DO NOT CARE FOR IT ANYMORE FROM NOW ON, THOSE TWO ¡®LESSONS¡¯ WILL REMAIN WITH IT FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFE AND WILL BUILD UPON THEM. ¡°So, I don¡¯t have to be here for it?¡± I queried further. YOU DO NOT BUT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR YOU TO REMAIN UNTIL IT EVOLVES. ON THAT NOTE, YOU CAN HELP IT FURTHER BY PLACING IT IN THE LIQUID MANA TO HELP IT HEAL. BEWARE THOUGH. DO NOT GET IT ON YOU AS IT WILL POISON YOU WITH MANA OVERLOAD. IT DOES NOT HAVE A PLEASANT OUTCOME. ¡°Noted.¡± I said with a nervous swallow before heading over to the pool. Like the system had warned me, I was very careful as I dropped it into the shallowest part at the rim of the pool. I was close enough to the surface of the liquid, so it didn¡¯t splash but the little spider apparently wanted to be deeper. It used its remaining legs to crawl further into the pool until I lost sight of it. ¡°Is it really going to be all right?¡± I asked the system while I crouched carefully at the edge of the pool and watched its unnaturally still surface with worried eyes. DO NOT WORRY SAMUEL. IT IS A BEING OF PURE MANA. MORE PURE MANA WILL ONLY HELP IT TO HEAL AND GROW. IT IS GETTING BETTER. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m trusting you on this since you know this better than I do.¡± I told it as I got up and turned away from the pool. I looked around for a moment before heading deeper into the cavernous room. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose this is where I can find the control thingy for the place? It¡¯s where they¡¯re holding all of the mana they¡¯ve sucked up after all.¡± I asked while I walked. YOU MAY BE CORRECT. I CAN SENSE SOMETHING IN THE CENTER OF THE AREA. PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR. ¡°You don¡¯t sound too certain about that.¡± I pointed out. YOU ARE CORRECT. THIS AREA, IN SPITE OF THE LEAK, IS DIFFICULT FOR ME TO ¡®SEE¡¯. THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM FORE ME IN PLACES THAT EITHER HAVE VERY LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF MANA OR VERY HIGH ONES. THIS AREA HAS BOTH. ¡°Ah.¡± With that thought in mind, I continued walking. I wasn¡¯t really sure about where I was going, as the place was beyond huge, but the System managed to keep me from getting lost. I eventually got to more or less the center after an hour or so of walking and having to make a quick stop for some personal business. I hope who ever made this place was rolling in their grave as I pissed on their pet, world-ending project when I did too. Impromptu potty breaks aside, I had a fairly good hunch we had come to the right place as there was something like an arcane console in the middle of the clear space we had come upon. It was made of stone and set into the base of a large stone pillar that had pulsing, glowing lines leading to it. There were several orbs that looked like fist size pearls of varying colors set into the surface of the console along with a large glass one the size of a large bowling ball taking up the middle of it. Different swirls of glowing color slid across the surface of it, and I watched it for a couple of seconds before opening my mouth. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I take it, this it is what we¡¯re looking for?¡± I asked. I BELIEVE SO. INTERESTING. IT LOOKS LIKE THEY CREATED AN ARTIFICIAL DUNGEON CORE TO RUN THIS PLACE. ¡°And the others, are they anything we should be worrying about?¡± I DO NOT BELIEVE SO. THEY ARE ALSO DUNGEON CORES BUT THEY ARE¡­ OR RATHER THEY WERE FROM NATURALLY OCCURRING DUNGEONS. IF YOU TAKE THE CORE OUT OF A DUNGEON OR DESTROY IT, THAT DUNGEON WILL ¡®DIE¡¯. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR THE CORE. IF YOU REMOVE IT FROM THE DUNGEON, IT WILL DIE AS WELL, MUCH LIKE TAKING THE HEAD OFF A SNAKE. BOTH WILL ¡®LIVE ON¡¯ FOR A LITTLE WHILE BUT BOTH WILL ULTIMATELY DIE. FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, THESE CORES ARE DEAD AND CAN NO LONGER BE USED AS WHAT THEY WERE ORIGINALLY MADE FOR. AS FOR THEIR CURRENT USE HERE THEY LOOK LIKE THEY ARE BEING USED AS AIDS OR APLIFIERS FOR THE MAIN, ARTIFICIAL ONE IN THE CENTER. ¡°Huh. Do you know how big their dungeons were?¡± I DO. JUDGING BY THEIR SIZE AND COLORS, IT WOULD BE SAFE TO ASSUME THAT THEY WERE FAIRLY SMALL AND SIMPLE WITH ONLY A FEW ROOMS AND MONSTERS. ¡°So, no real loss here. Technically. Do you want me to eat this now that we¡¯ve found it or¡­.?¡± I let that question hang in the air as I waited for answer. The system seemed to be deep in thought, so I waited patiently for it to give me my next course of action. I did not need to wait for very long. HMMM¡­. THIS IS MORE COMPLEX THAN I THOUGHT¡­. AND NO, I WON¡¯T HAVE YOU EAT IT NOW. I DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE ENOUGH POWER OR CONTROL OVER YOUR FATE SKILL TO SAFELY CONSUME IT. NOT TO MEAN YOU MAY BECOME STUCK IN WHATEVER CONTAINMENT AREA THIS PLACE HAS IF YOU SET OFF ANY POSSIBLE SECURITY MEASURES THERE MAY BE PROTECTING IT IF YOU DO. WE SHOULD MAKE CERTAIN WE CAN ESCAPE THE CONTAINMENT AREA IN CASE THAT HAPPENS. MOST LIKELY BY DISRUPTING WHATEVER THEY ARE USING FOR IT ¡°Any idea of what that might be? or where?¡± I asked as I headed back to the entrance to the cavern. WAIT. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LINES ON THE FLOOR. ONE OF THEM MIGHT LEAD TO THE CONTAINMENT AREA. ¡°Good point.¡± I commented and went back. Sure enough, there was one where the pulses of light lead away from the central stone pillar. Unfortunately, it had a fairly convoluted path through the room, and I lost it several times under the mats of fungi and other primitive plant life. That¡¯s where the basic knife the System had given me came in handy. It wasn¡¯t very big but it did the job of cutting the mats so I could peal parts of them back and continue to follow the line. It was hard work even with the knife though and I was so absorbed with it that I didn¡¯t notice that the big bad brother of the Mana Spider had joined me. When I finally did, I near had a heart attack. I had gotten so used to the Mana Spiders wandering around me that it hadn¡¯t registered that an even bigger version of them had come over to watch me work. The System told me it was a non-aggressive monster call a cave spider, but I wasn¡¯t really listening. It was the size of a large dog with its central pair of eyes being much more pronounced than the other two. It was to the point of them being large enough that I could have put a fist through one of them had I been so inclined. Fortunately, I wasn¡¯t as I didn¡¯t want to tangle with its equally over-sized fangs and its unintentional scare was quickly forgiven as I recognized its little white rider. Well, not quite as little as before since the little white spider had doubled in size since I had last seen it. It was also fully healed and happy to see me which was a relief. I quickly scooped her up off her ride and petted her a few times before letting her crawl on me while I went back to work. She eventually decided to perch on my shoulder to watch what I was doing. Meanwhile, the cave spider lost interest and wandered off, leave me to work in peace without it staring at me. Time passed and I started to get tired. I thought it was odd since I had been taking rests to restore my stamina and had managed to raise my endurance a little even. The system informed me that I had been up for several hours and prolonging my lack of sleep will only make things worse for me. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have enough in the ¡®tank¡¯ so to speak to get a proper sleep, so I had to go hunting. I stuck my knife into the mat I was currently working on to mark where I left off before placing the little spider on a nearby pillar so it wouldn¡¯t get hurt by accident and went off. I didn¡¯t have much success on my own and only managed to capture three of the little ankle maulers before exhausting myself. They weren¡¯t nearly enough for me though, and I started to notice that I was beginning to get diminishing returns from them. That did not bode well for me, and I suspected it was from a lack of proper food. It didn¡¯t change the fact that I didn¡¯t have enough time stored up to sleep though, and I wasn¡¯t really interested in trying to eat anything else. The spiders would have been more effective in feeding me, but I would have felt guilty about eating the peaceful creatures. Anything else I would have been able to catch wouldn¡¯t have been worth the effort and the System warned me off eating the plant life when it caught me contemplating it. It stated it was a too concentrated a source of mana for the current me to handle and that I would instantly get poisoned if I had tried. I know it was trying to keep me alive but starving to death wasn¡¯t my cup of tea either. Still, I could feel the worry in its warnings and decided against trying to ignore them. Arc One: Starved Fate ch. 7 Luckily for me, not long after that, the little white spider found me and had a few of its bigger relatives with it. They came bearing gifts of silk wrapped ¡®Preserved Mana Rat Corpses¡¯ to feed me with and I was able to add some more time to the¡­ well, timer. What they originally brought me wasn¡¯t enough and they had to catch me more. I happily feasted on what they gave me, but I eventually succumbed to the mild paralytic venom they used to subdue their prey and collapsed. The system assured that it would wear off in a couple hours and that I shouldn¡¯t worry about it too much. I had also eaten enough to have 12+ hour buffer so I didn¡¯t really need the reassurance, but I think the little white spider could have used some. It was panicking after my collapse and was scurrying all over my motionless and unresponsive form. There wasn¡¯t really anything I could do to reassure the creature so I just watched what I could of it until I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up though, it was because of pain. My¡­. everything hurt with a thudding headache sitting on top of it like a rotting, throbbing cherry on shit sundae. Add to it the flashing red messages of me having dangerously low health and mana, and I was able put two and two together. For some reason, I had overslept, and my ''Starved'' condition was far more dangerous than either me or the System had thought. There was also a thin sheet of webbing covering me that I was able to see through when I opened my eyes to see if I could fix things fast enough for me not to die. Luckily for me, there was pile of silk wrapped mana rats within arm¡¯s reach and the silk covering me was easily torn apart by my movement. I grabbed two from the pile and downed them quickly in succession with my skill for a rough estimation of breakfast. While I waited for my meal to digest and regain my energy, a familiar white spider came into view. I held my hand out to it, and it crawled hesitantly on, giving off the impression that it was scared and ashamed of what had happened to me. I had a pretty good idea of why it was feeling that way, and I did my best to comfort it and tell it that it hadn¡¯t done anything wrong. Yes, it was a mistake. No, I wasn¡¯t mad. No, didn¡¯t know I could be poisoned by the mana rats either. Yes, I was going to be careful. No, I wasn¡¯t going to throw the rest away. It¡¯s going to be okay. The brief impulse to put the spiderling into my mouth and swallow it in order to comfort it further, to take way its ¡®burden¡¯ but that was impossible. My insides weren¡¯t safe ¨C at least not yet anyways at the very least ¨C for it to be in. If I were to give in to that impulse, I would have killed it for sure. I didn¡¯t want that and forcibly pushed it aside and focused on comfort the little spider in a more traditional manner. To that end, I started to fill the empty spaces in my inventory with the extra rats to show that its good will wouldn¡¯t be going to waste. I soon found out that each one could only carry two before I started to feel a weight in my mind. I had a feeling that was important and somehow related to my strength stat since the System had told me earlier that both were used for the inventory skill. I only managed to get seven of the pre-package rats into my inventory before I had to start rearranging my items. There were only a few rats left so I started with the cloak since that was meant to be worn anyways and tossed a couple into the slot it had occupied. I went with the cloth wrappings next to see if I could use them to cover my tattoo like marking and its freaky eye. As it turned out, there were enough to indeed cover it and I had a feeling the System had put them there for that exact reason, but I never thought to use them like that. I tossed the final rat into the slot it had occupied and got up to go back to where I had left the knife. The little spiderling had calmed down by then and had begun to clean me of the silk it had covered me. I gave it a few encouraging pets while I walked to let it know that it was doing good. When I arrived at the site where I had left the system gifted knife, I found it and something rather interesting. Something had dug a trench through the mat of plant life I had been trying to cut my way through while trying to follow the line of pulsing energy. The trench made following the line much easier for me, so I collected my knife and worked on cleaning it as I went to see where the line lead. Which, as it turned out, was a wall. A very blank, impassible wall. It also, interestingly enough, brought me to the cave spider that had brought me the little white spider after it had healed. At least I thought it was the same one. It was giving me a hopeful look and I sighed as I gave it some head pats and one of the rats that were in my inventory. It had worked hard and deserved a bit of a reward after all of that. It wasn¡¯t the spider monster¡¯s fault that the power line had led to a dead end, it was only trying to help. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Determined not to give up, I consumed one of the stored rats with my skill to ¡®top off¡¯ my timer and went about investigating the wall. The makers of this place had to have a way through the wall, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been able to lay the ¡®power line¡¯ through it. Unless they had made a hole and then sealed it up after they were done. This world did have magic after all so that made it an all too possible outcome. The other was that there was a hidden door here and I just had to find it or the switch that opened it. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be a key word or something because then I was fairly certain I would be thoroughly screwed over. I ran my hands over the seemingly bare wall in search for a switch to open the possible door. The two spiders watched me for a moment before joining in themselves. The little white one jumped onto the wall while the cave spider swept the ends of its feeler legs over the stony surface. I chuckled at the little one¡¯s antics while I worked but it was the cave spider and its feelers that ultimately found what I needed. It tapped insistently at a spot that was about a foot to the right of where I was looking and wouldn¡¯t stop until I placed my hand there. When I did, runes came to life all over the wall and lit the place up before there was a deep rumbling sound that vibrated the floor. The little one jumped back to me at the noise and hid behind my right shoulder for safety. A moment later, there was a grinding of stone on stone as a door sized hole appeared in the wall over the pulsing line. There was a proper hallway through the stone beyond it and it was brightly lit with glowing runes. Bright when compared to the perpetual gloom I had been living in for over a day at least. With the way forward opened, I turned to my two companions I had made decided to give them a couple of names. They would need them later if I came back changed and they didn¡¯t recognize me. If I could get the names to stick, then they would know it was me since I was only one who new them. I hoped. ¡°Alright, now that I¡¯ve found this, I¡¯m going to have to leave you two here. I don¡¯t know if you two can understand me or not, but where I am going will be very dangerous and I don¡¯t want the two of you to get hurt. I may not come back the same either but that will be on me. So, that you know it''s me even if what comes back doesn¡¯t look like it, I¡¯m giving the two of you names so that you two know that it''s me. I¡¯m also going to tell you two my name, so you know it as well.¡± I told them before putting the little one on the big one so I could look at them both while I was talking. ¡°I¡¯m Samuel.¡± I told them, pointing to myself before pointing to the little one. ¡°You¡¯re Silkie.¡± I said to it and moved my finger over to point down at the big one. ¡°And you¡¯re Bruce. Understand?¡± I asked them when I was done. They just looked at me expectantly, so I went over the names a few more times before testing them on which name belonged to who. When they finally passed with flying colors, I rewarded the two spiders. Bruce got another rat and head pats while Silkie got some pets and cuddle time. While I was doing that, the strange urge came again, this time to lick them. I pushed it aside like I had the last one and got down to business. ¡°Alright, now that we all know each other¡¯s names, it''s time for me to go. I may not come back to you the same as when I left, but I will come back. I can¡¯t say the same for you if the two of you get hurt so I need you two to stay here, where its safe. Understand? Now Stay.¡± I told the pair of them, and I pointed down at the ground to punctuate the last word. I got a chorus of churring from the pair of them and assumed that they understood. The door had closed in that time, so I had to open it again. While I waited for the stone to move, I felt something small crawl onto me and up to my shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t listen very well, do you?¡± I told it as I glanced to my shoulder with a sigh to give it a look of disapproval. I stepped through the doorway once it was open and looked back expectantly at Bruce. He backed away and I nodded in approval. ¡°Good boy, Bruce.¡± I told him as I watched the door close behind me. There was a kind of sterile finality to it once my way out was gone in that well-lit place. I didn¡¯t care for it or the light and neither did Silkie. She held her furry feeler legs in front of her eyes to protect the sensitive orbs while I had to make do with squinting. Luckily for me, my eyes adjusted to the light unlike Silkie¡¯s. Feeling sorry for the naughty little hitchhiker, I carefully tucked her into my shirt to give her some relief and protection from the light. With that done, I took a closer look at the hallway that I was in. It was lined with a scattering of open doorways, and I couldn¡¯t help but take a peek into each one as I searched for the so-called containment area. Most of the rooms looked to be either offices or labs and one of them even looked like the control booth of the place I was looking for. I headed into it with some hope only to find out it was a defunct one connected to a destroyed containment room. I looked around at the flickering and fizzling runes with a sigh and gave the rubble strewn pit a disappointed look before leaving.