It took nearly a minute for Reggie to stop ranting like a madman. It was only after calming down that he finally took notice of Alan's departure.
“I… Oh… Alan, many apologies!“ Alan heard Reggie say as he popped into existence several yards in front of him. He reflexively tensed up as the Wraith lifted his hands up over his head and slowly walked forward.
“I'm sorry, I got a bit excited, but you don't have to be alarmed. In fact, I'm already on my way out the door, as the saying goes. At long last, I've located the entrance to the room where the Core consciousness spends the majority of its time… Now I just need to figure out a way to seal it in there. If only for a just a few minutes. That should provide us with enough time…”
“I must go,” He turned to leave, but suddenly spun around. “Before I forget, the portal to the Second Floor is about to open up. It's located in the middle of the pond. If you go through the portal while it's yellow, it will take you directly to the Second Floor Trials. But I'll let you in on a little secret,” he said conspiratorially.
“If you wait until the portal turns green, it will transport you to the Dungeon's only Safe Room. As long as you remain in the center barrier, near the waters edge, you will be completely safe. In order to guarantee you an unobstructed path to the Dungeon Core, I'm going to need a bit more time to prepare a trap for the Core consciousness... Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go dust off my engraving Skills…” Alan failed to catch the last bit when Reggie's words trailed off into quiet murmurs.
After taking two steps, Reginald the Dungeon Wraith flickered and disappeared from sight.
“Strange dude,” Alan muttered as he readjusted his grip on the leathery egg cradled in his arms. “A little unstable, but who am I to judge? He definitely seems like a good uhh… person? Monster? Ah whatever.“ He took a final look around to ensure that he wasn't forgetting anything, and once satisfied, he got a good grip on Su'ong's egg, and set off to locate the portal to the Safe Room.
Oh, we're definitely going to be choosing the green portal. It wasn't even much of a decision. With Su'ong supposedly out of commission for at least twelve hours, and Alan's left eye sealed shut, neither of them were in any condition for a fight.
“Some hot food, and a Gods damned nap. Those are my top priorities right now…“ Alan grumbled tiredly. He was finding each step was getting progressively more difficult to take. “I wonder if there'll be any edible beasties in that water Reggie mentioned? If not, it's Trail mix and scorched Scorpion chunks for dinner…”
Alan took his time as he crossed the room to his destination. A portal that was supposedly located in the middle of the pond where he'd fought the Stalwart Sentinels. As he walked, he did his best to stick to the tracks the Earth Wyrm left behind in its mad dash around the room. The beast had managed to leave a clear trail cutting through the wide patches of slick ooze coating the floor.
When he finally crested the final hill of slick flowstone, he could see the entirety of the empty basin. Actually, isn't empty anymore… Alan realized. Though it was less than an inch deep, the water dripping from the ceiling was beginning to pool up, refilling the pond a single drop at a time. And there was no sign of any portals as far as he could tell.
He took a look at his Mini-map to make sure there were no further surprises waiting for him. When he saw the coast was clear, he began following the perimeter of the puddle. A faint light shining through the overlapping straps that made up the leathery casing of Su'ong's cocoon caught his attention. “Is it just me or are you getting heavier in there?“ He asked his evolving partner as he lowered her to the floor and alternated between trying to pop his back, and bending down to touch his toes.
After giving his arms a moment to recover while he stretched out his aching limbs, Alan picked up his partner and resumed his search for the elusive portal
The cocoon released a sudden pulse of energy, sending a jagged lance of pain ripping through his left eye. Oh my God dude! What the fuck is wrong with my head… Alan wondered as he stumbled to the side and fought to remain upright. He began to grow fearful when his vision wavered, and started to dim. A wave of nausea clenched his stomach muscles into tight knots that left him wanting to cry out.
It was a struggle to maintain his grip. The cocoon seemed to be sturdy, yet he was deathly afraid to find out what would happen if he were to accidentally drop it. Would it bounce? Shatter like glass? Alan had no idea, but the pain was increasing by the second. It grew to the point it was blinding, and forced his hand. Alan hurriedly set Su'ong's egg down in a depression between two stalagmites in front of him. He held his head between his hands and crouched down, doing his best to curl up into a ball.
Alan fell onto his side, and lifted his knees up to his chin. Another harsh stab of pain tore through the side of his head. The pressure was so severe that he was sure his skull was about to split open. He gritted his teeth against the shivers threatening to shake him to pieces, and tried to roll over in an attempt to at least keep watch over Su'ong's cocoon.
He only made it half way. He arched his back and screamed as his eye rolled back into his head. Alan lost consciousness as his body began to thrash and spasm, violently knocking the side of his head against the cold stone floor. When the seizure finally drew to a close, he was left moaning in a puddle of the thick, frothy foam that was leaking from his mouth.
Confused and afraid, his first sight upon regaining his awareness was a glaring red notification.
*WARNING!* The Evolution of your Soul-bound partner is causing unforseen physiological changes to occur at an alarming rate. As her body adapts to mirror her altered soul, so too does your own.
*WARNING*As a (G-Stage) entity, you lack sufficient control over Spiritual Energy to maintain a stable equilibrium between the [Human] and [Beast-Folk] sections of your Soul. Attempting to increase the output of your Spiritual Wellspring to compensate… ERROR! Your Spiritual Wellspring is already operating at full capacity.
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*WARNING!* Your Soul stands on the precipice of collapse. You no longer possess the minimal Spiritual Energy required to sustain both the conflict in your soul, and the evolution of your Soul-bound partner. ERROR! Unable to maintain a stable con...ectio...
I would develop heart demons were I to miss out on witnessing firsthand the inner workings and Evolutionary processes of a Cultivator. I will not be allowing you to kill yourself just yet. Especially not for a reason as trivial as not wanting to Evolve. Whatever your reasons may be, whether noble or foolish, there is still a great deal of information I can pluck from the mind of an outlier such as yourself. If nothing else, your struggles thus far have provided an unending source of entertainment. You are a walking contradiction. A being riddled with flaws so deep that I find it a wonder that your entrails haven't begun seeping out. I am now proceeding with your immediate Evolution to the (F-Stage). Whether you like it or not. Oh, and before I forget> The System said, it's buzzing mechanical voice unable to hide the sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
“Wait… Wait a minute!“ Alan mumbled out over an uncooperative tongue. But it was no use, as his sight faded to black, a tinny, mechanical hum reverberated throughout his comatose form, stirring up his cells into a frenzy.
When Alan woke up, he was floating in the midst of a vast ocean of swirling lights and energy. Rivers of what Alan could only describe as living Mana flooded into him from all directions, each one carrying a distinct color and attunement. While the majority seemed to decide they wanted nothing to do with him after making their first pass through, each one left something behind.
Yet a few of the roaring rivers seemed downright eager to join him.
A bright red streamer of Fire-attuned energy rocketed out of the distance and slammed into him like a runaway train, and a series of complex symbols began to form around his head. A root-like tendril of Earth-attuned Mana wrapped around Alan's chest and began to vibrate at a painful frequency. This was immediately followed up by a bubble of Water-attuned Mana encapsulating his motionless spiritual form, and the rest of the gathered energies.
All at once, the encapsulated energy started altering the very makeup of his body. Alan lost sight of his surroundings in a flash of bright light, and an eerie calm took up residence in his mind.
Swirling currents of raw power began to gather up around him, flooding whatever that strange energy was into multiple locations on his body. His left eye, shoulders, hands, chest, naval, hips and feet seemed to be the areas the gathering vortexes of Mana were most concentrated. As he felt rampant changes taking place within himself, that strange voice returned.
The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, and Alan was having no luck locating its source. It was only increasing his worries. If this really is the System talking, there's probably no point looking for it… It's already inside of me.
Is this it? Am I about to be snuffed out by a disembodied voice? He instinctually understood that if this place wanted him dead, that was it. There would be nothing he could do to fight back. In this seemingly endless sea of energy, he was completely at the mercy of this unknown individual.
Alan and Rexus had always wondered what the System actually was. They even had an ongoing bet, one that Alan had no choice but to admit that he had just lost. Rexus always said he thought the System was some kind of AI, while Alan had convinced himself that it was likely some kind of intergalactic hive-mind.
If he made it out of the Tutorial, he would now be forced to admit defeat, and deep-clean the village's only outhouse. As he contemplated flattening said outhouse with a well-placed [Fireball], the System's mechanical voice drew his attention.
Before Alan could assure the talkative being guiding his Evolution that he had no intentions of harming anyone who didn't first try to harm him, it brought up a topic that had been a constant source of worry since he awakened from the Soul-Union.
Alan was unsure what exactly that meant, but if he were to hazard a guess, his brand-new dinosaur arm was probably the least of his worries.