After witnessing a goblin’s decapitation and missing out on potential skills from his corpse, I navigated the dungeon, deliberately avoiding the five dickhead didates. Nowhere near ready to ehem for a murderous feast, I ventured into ahick with underbrush and mushrooms that looked like it was ripped right from The Smurfs—albeit, most of the pnts and mushrooms were biolumi, adding a surreal, psychedelic twist, remi of a stoner’s bcklight poster. That said, I wasn’t sure if what I saw was neon or if it was Mana Focus pying triy perception. I suppose I may never know.
What I’d give for some acid right about now.
Hmm… Maybe one of these mushrooms is the fun kind?
A chorus of high-pitched screams suddenly cut through the dense air, their shrill tones blending into an almost musical cacophony as rustling movements darted through the foliage all around me. Venturing a few steps forward, the underbrush parted to reveal a hidden encve—a bizarre vilge shrouded in a swirling mist of spores. My assaints emerged: small creatures with stout, fungal bodies topped with bright red caps that glowed with a psychedelic luminesce. They swarmed like partits in a chaotic rally, their movements clumsy and uncoordinated yet charged with fearless abandon.
As they lu me, their red-capped heads served as makeshift battering rams. With each reckless charge, their impact against my gooey flesh dispersed clouds of spores, thiing the fog around us.
What are you, you little bastards?
The relentless assault from the small, determined mushroom creatures wasn’t the worst part—it was the spores! Overwhelmed, I struggled to dodge effectively. My movements became sluggish, as if I were wading through thick mosses. Each collision not only slowed me further but also released more spores, thiing the haze around me and deepening my irritation as I grew increasingly lethargic.
A system notification fshed, firming my suspi of what was happening.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
[Slow] Status Detected [SD]
Resist Status: No Immunity [Inactive]
Affli: Slowness
Effects Applied:
Deyed Physical ReaDeyed Spell CastingDeyed itive Funs
V:\>
Despite the y Corrosive and Venomous traits began to reveal their advantages—acidic burn marks appeared on their red caps with each collision, and soon, sickly purple veins began to show on their white bodies beh the caps. The relentless creatures, tireless in their assault, were unknowingly succumbing to my passive attacks. I found that I didn’t o do much beyoing them hit me as they fell oer another. So much for their Slow debuff doing them any good.
A twinge ret crossed my mind as I pondered whether Life Drain might have helped me regain mass while healing. Additionally, bining my passives with my new Paralysis skill acquired from the getinous cube, I could bee the ultimate cle fighter—despite my preference for le es. Sorceress all the way!
I ceased any attempt to fight back as the relentless mushroom creatures tio charge at me in waves, apparently oblivious to the fate of their fallen rades. They rapidly repced each other, attempting to batter me with their small, shroom-like helmets, whily released more Slow spores into the dense mist enveloping us. sidering they weren’t wielding fire or holy magic, I found myself virtually immuo their physical attacks, allowio mostly ighem.
Taking advantage of the retive safety, I decided to examine my skill more closely. However, I didn’t have a skill slot avaible for use anyway. Still, the chaos of the battle provided an odd backdrop as I delved into the details of my skill.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillDetails
[Paralysis]
Description: Temporarily immobilize your foes by touch, disrupting their nervous system ical energies. Targets remain scious but are uo move or act.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Cast
Select [Paralysis]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
As I realized that Paralysis required active casting, a frown creased what would have been my eyebrow—kind of hard and awkward to do when you’re a single gooey eyeball. I had been hoping for another passive ability. Sure, my heart was set on acquiring le magical spells—something as badass as a lightning bolt would be ideal. Yet, the notion of assembling a passive build was being uedly appealing. It wasn’t that I was abandoning my Sorceress dreams.
Speaking of wanting to be a Sorceress, I decided to give [Blight] a cast. Suddenly, a miasma of darkness misted out of me. Through Mana Focus, it appeared as one part sickly dark green swirling with one part cruel purple.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
BattleResult
Enemy Defeated: 32 [Dungeon Campestr
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Current Level: 16
Level 15 Milestone Achieved [LMA]
Unique Skill Unlocked: [Oracle]
A new Skill Slot has been unlocked.
Initiate [Absorb] on 32 [Dungeon Campestr?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
As though someone had hit the fast-forward button, the Slow debuff vanished without warning—well, except for the system notification.
Wait—what?
It seemed I had won... I had been so lost in my thoughts, either fiddling with the system or daydreaming about being a sorceress, that I hadn’t noticed the end of the onsught of mun-sized mushrooms. They’d been headbutting me like relentless billy goats—then nothing.
Gng around, I noticed about half had succumbed to a mix of chemical burns and poisoning, while the rest had been done in by my Blight if the sickly look of rotten mushroom people covered in sores and blisters oozing with pus was any indicatiardless, they were now all lifeless around me, victims of my passive skills and Blight.
Dang, Blight is terrifying.
I gaihree levels from that enter and a new racial—no, a Unique—for reag a milestone level. However, I found myself eyeing this Oracle skill with some skepticism. The st thing I wanted was a skill that induced halluations of possible futures—not that I knew if that’s what this skill did, but I rehensive heless.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillDetails
[Oracle]
Description: Bear wito the divine wisdom and insight into the are secrets of Magic.
Status: Active
Type: Unique
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Oracle]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
Huh, so it’s kind of like my other skill, Are Insight? Why am I getting so musight? Not that I’m pining about it.
A quice firmed that, like all the milestone skills I’d gained, it was already active. For now, I decided to leave it alohough I wasn’t sure what to make of it being passive. Maybe I’d gain some... insight into that? Tee-hee! My real joy, however, stemmed from two other things: first and foremost, I mentally clicked yes on Absorb.
My body began to deform autonomously, gathering every spore it could find—all seventeen, I suppose—and pulling them in to be quickly dissolved and devoured. Guided on autopilot by Absorb, I could feel my form shifting as though I were growing. The Campestri hadn’t been much bigger than me, but after ing as many as I had, I now found myself about the size of a rge dog.
Yay!
Wait—does that make me a literal bitow?
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillUpdate
[Absorb] [Dungeon Campestr Successful
New Selectable Skill Avaible:
> [Spores]
V:\>
Spores?
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillDetails
[Spores]
Descriptio a haze of spores to envelop you, inflig foes with a lethargic slowdown that deys physical reas and spell casting.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Cast
Select [Spores]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
Hmm… It sounds useful if I’m being groomed against my will to be a cle spell fighter. Seriously! ’t a girl get a lightning bolt spell up in here?
Despite my grumbling, I moved on to the st thing I was excited about—a new skill slot! I was gaining skills I couldn’t use like they were forbidden fruit. I had, what, like ten skills in the Selectable Skills list? The question was, what to pick? Ah, who was I kidding? I kly what I wanted. Especially after that burning ceiling colpse, I needed a better way to heal myself besides eating corpses.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
ActivateSpell
Seleg Spell: [Life Drain]
Status: Active
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
[Life Drain] has bee as an active-passive spell.
_
Selectable: 5 out of 5 Skills Activated.
V:\>
I had just tripled my passive attack power and included a healing touto the mix with that single skill. So, out of the five active skills that I had picked, I had Blight, Life Drain, Mana Focus, Silk Webbing, and Venomous. That didn’t include my Racial Skills of Absorb, Are Insight, Corrosive, Polymorph, and Thermal, nor my Uraits of Polyglot and Oracle. So, all in all, I retty well stacked... for a cle mage fight. I’ll admit, I was still a bit bitter about that st bit, but who knew, maybe there was a way to deselect my skills ter on, and respec myself to be a Sorceress that a sexy vampire couldn’t keep her hands off of.
What? A girl dream, ’t she?
With my scrumptious meal done and the shroom dudes utterly annihited, I ventured further into the dungeon, seeking what else I might uncover—only to halt just before leaving, drawn by the sight of a few copper-looking s lying scattered where the corpses had been.
Had those been there before?
I gave a mental shrug; it wasn’t like I could use the s for anything, nor did I have ao store them. True, I had a pocket dimension for ste listed among my Selectable Skills, but that was far from a priority right now. So, I left the s where they y and was about to tinue onward, seeking greater fortunes in levels, skills, and—yes—yummy treats. That’s when I noticed a woode, remi of something pirates would use to stash their treasure, just lying there. Oh—and by treats, I meant delicious corpses.
—Ugh! What’s wrong with me?
I’m losing my mind to these dark impulses—and what’s worse, I’m enjoying it!
And I’m still answering my owions? Argh! Talking to myself is ohing, but talking back is a whole other level. I o be careful, or I might actually end up with a split personality.
“Yes, you do.”
—EEK! Who said that?
I sed my surroundings with my single eye, searg for the source of the mysterious voice.
Despite my size increase, I was still essentially a gooey orb with an eye. Why such a simple form? Holy, I didn’t have the time or patieo experiment with Polymorph. Thus, I opted for the simplest shape: a slimy bck eyeball supported by tentacle-like tendrils that acted as legs.
Maybe I should give myself a mouth? Now, if only I could fly, I’d look just like a Beholder.
Back to the matter at hand—treasure! And that other voice. I turned in every dire, utilizing both Thermal and Mana Focus, but found no one. Just me and the unassuming chest. Yep, that’s right! Absolutely no one else! That stark realizatio a chill through my core. Could it be? Was I going insane? Or worse, was I actually developing a split personality?
Great, just what I fug needed.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SystemAlert!
Dungeon Core Removed.
Dungeon Oonsters' respawn and rewards are now deactivated.
Notifying Primary Admin.
Error.
Error.
Admin:\Life>Not_Found.
Notifying Sedary Admin.
Access Denied By Sedary Admin.
Admih>Login_Denied.
Notifying Auxiliary Admin.
Admin:\Magic>Login_
Resetting Dungeon Modules...
figuration Inplete.
Dungeon Ockpool Core Not Found.
Dungeoivated.
_
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
AdmiAlert!
Quest: Retrieve Ockpool Dungeon Core.
Reward: Immediate Graduation to Assion.
V:\>
I froze—literally. My entire body seized up as the system alert fshed before my eyes. The dungeon core for this pce had been removed? Now it seemed that even the backup to the backup admin had now tasked me with retrieving it.
Seriously?
However, what truly transfixed me was the reward mentioned: Assion. Although the specifics were unclear, the om mention of Assion throughout the system notifications hi its importance. Flickers of an idea about asding to godhood danced in my mind. While nothing firmed such grandeur, the mere possibility was tantalizing. Plus, the thought that the other didates might have received the same notification spurred me on.
I want that reward, whatever it is!
Taking a deep breath—metaphorically speaking, since I'm pretty sure I don't have lungs—I cautiously approached the chest. I sed the area thhly, using both Thermal and Mana Focus, but nothing unusual about the chest itself caught my attention. So, my focus remained sharply on my surroundings as if waiting for something to attack. And yes, I know I 't use items in my current form, but maybe, just maybe, if there's something ented inside, could I use Absorb on it? It's a long shot—I know—but I'm just winging it here. After all, it’s not like I know what I’m doing, no matter how badass you think I am.
I extended a tendril to nudge open the lid. Abruptly, a massive tentacle, like a grotesque tongue, shot out, ing itself arou squeezed mercilessly as it hoisted me off the ground and into its gaping maw! I shrieked in surprise, instinctively unleashing Blight while ensuring all my passive skills were active—Corrosive, Venomous, and even Life Drain.
The creature, a mimic chest I now realized, cmped down, its razor-sharp, spiked teeth puncturing my bck flesh. Despite the barrage of my Corrosive and Venomous attacks, it tis assault, chewing and tossihin its saliva-coated mouth like I were nothing but a pleasant treat to be savored.
Time stretched into an agoniziernity as the mimic chest tried relentlessly to devour me. Despite the ferocity of its assault, we reached a stalemate. My array of attacks seemed iive; my Corrosive and Venomous skills did nothing against the creature's unnatural resistance. Even Life Drain proved futile, doing little beyond inflig superficial damage to my own pride. As I was chewed and tossed like a toy within its maw, I realized that, for all my skills and immunities, I owerless against this dungeon monster.
After enduring what felt like endless hours of humiliating torment, the chest finally spat me out—my ego bruised and battered. This wasn't just one unfortunate enter but three excruciating ordeals. Each time it spat me out, hope surged, only for its too snatch me before I could escape, pulling me bato the fray, each episode more degrading tha.
Until, at st, the chest spat me out o time out of sheer boredom. I y on the dungeon floor, devoid of the strength to recoil immediately, refleg oer failure of my passive skills against such a foe. No new skills, no levels gained, and not a single mark made on the monstrous chest despite my desperate efforts. As I slowly crawled away, the bitter taste of defeat lingered, overshadowed only by my resolve to never speak of this again.
Hours ter, I trudged through the dungeon, muttering a stream of curses that would likely have gotten me celed in my previous life. In search of the elusive dungeon core and my meal—to vent my annoyance—I navigated the cavern's intricate yout. It boasted a myriad of chambers and corridors etched along its walls. Some pathways delved deeper, revealing expansive, yet now eerily empty chambers, which I found bitterly relieving after that humiliating enter with the mimic chest.
Despite needing a long breather, I was on edge. Occasionally, I fli the sound of scurrying, crab-like feet just behind me. Each time I spun around to front the source, I found nothing.
Sihe system alert, entering dungeon monsters had bee increasingly challenging. No dropped s or items came from killing monsters anymore. Yet, the uling tapping of unseen, crab-like feet was a stant presence—always near, yet perpetually elusive, adding to the creeping dread that followed me through the shadowy corridors.
1
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