"...so, what are we going to do Kojo? We're literally stuck here!" I gesture madly in the direction of my ire, as I sat on the dirt, packed hard by my non-stop pacing. There lay the ruins to the entrance of the cave, or rather the rubble and dirt that now covered what had remained. We'd been stuck for about a couple hours now. At first, I had the idea to just pull the rocks and shit out of the way, but that's how the dirt ended up raining down and packing it all in along the rocks...somehow. I swear everything is just going to shit right now. Don't I have a luck stat for a reason? Then again, I don't even know what it could possibly be used for anyway.

"We could always try climb out." Kojo suggested. I looked towards Kojo who sat across from me, as he gazed to one of the many trees around us. Our conversation had gotten a bit better, as it seemed with more communication, the animal companionship skill seemed to grow. It even had passed level 10, but there wasn't a notification or obvious benefit to it. It might need something else to do that special event thing, but I'm not too sure. It probably might not even have one at all, given that some of the things I have are at a Max level, whatever number that would be. I also have no idea why it isn't doing anything, and this is the first time I haven't received rewards for doing my dutiful service of grinding. It scared me a bit, cause I had a thought that maybe I only get a certain number of rewards while I'm here, but that just seems ridiculous to me for some reason. I'm going to have to find out the specific conditions for this later on, but right now I need to focus on the current situation. Apparently though, the situation seemed to be focused upon...trees.

Given a cursory look around, there were none that seemed high enough to climb within the caldera, except towards the middle, where a lone....I want to say birch? I dunno, the bark was colored in a mix of white and brown. Whatever it was, it rose significantly taller than its surroundings, where the top of the tree seemed to actually scrape against clouds. The sun seemed to make the leaves shine for a moment, before movement caused the leaves to all flutter around before steeling back to their branches once more.

"Yeah. I don't think so buddy. From what I can see, there's some probably some giant birds up there. Well, it's either that, or there's just some wierd plant stuff going on with it. Plus, how would we even get out of this giant hole from there. It seems far away." Kojo seemed to start more intently, as his moss bushes seemed to rise briefly.

"..Oh. See now. Yes, not good idea. Also, planned on jumping down. New body seems more durable." I chuckled a little bit at Kojo's simple plan. I mean, it was definitely a plan, and while I couldn't think of anything better, it still seemed like a poorly executed one.

"....Kojo, I'm not a plant like you. I don't think I can just root myself in the ground and regrow myself...." Looking down, I see the remains of my regenerating leg. As of now, only the foot was left to regrow, and I could only feel a little bit hypocritical following the statement. So, I rescinded it.

"Ok. Maybe I can regrow myself, but not too good." Kojo nods a little bit before standing on his legs for the first time since I began pacing, and moves a paw up to his...chest. Oh god. Don't think about contortionists. Just don't. He's a tree. The wood is probably more flexible than bone now.

".....Thought you would be inside." Excuse me....what does he exactly mean by that? This seems like a rather important development.

"Inside....what buddy?" Kojo does the exact same motions, except this time...opening his mouth. Oh dear god he wants to eat me.

"Me. Doesn't seem like have stomach anymore. No feel hunger. Assume keep in there, then pull out." ...I trust the wolf. I really do, but this seems like one of those variations of the big bad wolf fable, where red riding hood just walked into the wolf's stomach. He might be genuine about this, but this seems so far out there, I just don't think I can handle it.

"Look....Kojo, I'm not saying that that's not going to work, but I am saying you have to make sure you can do something before you try it. You can feel like you can do something all you want, with it failing just the same. Who knows if you still have....acid in there or something." Kojo's eyes seemed to widen a bit before he sat down on his haunches.

".......Wise. Will listen to advice." If that's wisdom to him, I don't even want to know what his common sense is like.

"Well, what have you thought of so far? I'm kind of drawing a blank on what we could do." Kojo briefly looked towards my way before opening his mouth.

"Well.....could dig. Could wait help. Could climb tree, ride bird. Could stay, eat, grow plant. Don't know how long would take." Something....about that last one, just seems to ~click~.

"THAT'S IT!!!" I quickly stand up and head towards Kojo. Hurriedly, I start to ramble through the thought train that just exploded to the forefront of my mind.

"Ok, so, I have a spell, ability, whatever. It causes plants to mature and grow and I just had an idea. You're a plant, right now right? What if we use it on you to better dig out the entrance?" Kojo seems a bit put off by the sudden influx of information, but his composure seems to resolve.

"Could do that yes. How fit in cave though? Barely fit in entrance before. After this, would I even anymore. Is permanent?" My wind seems to fall off, no longer blowing the sails of my excitement. I had simply grown too attached to the idea to have any sort of thought towards the potential consequences. Would I be putting Kojo in a state of no return? Would he grow so big he'd have to actually put down roots? I don't know. I can't know. So, gently, I fall down onto the packed earth, a resounding thud echoing along my back, giving me the slight pain to reset my head.

".....Yeah. Yeah, you're right bud. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. Just latched onto it. Also....I think it might be. Most of the stuff I've grown has basically stayed at the state I left them. I don't know if it's a time issue or what, but none have suddenly become acorns again." My explanation of the spell caused Kojo's eyes to narrow, and the little bush eyebrows to wiggle slightly. I watched as he stood up and slowly meandered over to the rock and rubble of the cave entrance, and put a single paw on one of the stones.

".......Grow could work though. Plant trees in cave. Have grow apart rock like water does."...The idea hits me again, but I push down on the excitement. I know last time I was gung-ho on the previous idea, but as of now I need to think of the consequences...Maybe grow only works if something has access to sunlight? Then it just simply wouldn't work. However...that doesn't seem like something that would be overly bad just to test.

"....Yeah. Yeah! Let me just grab some seeds or something. There must be a nut or an acorn around here somewhere." I get up onto my feet, and begin looking for some detritus. It doesn't take long to find a few nuts I can grow. And....I also come across another Twilight Rose. Something tells me that I'll probably need it. I don't know where the feeling is coming from, but I can see how this thing might be useful. If it can flash freeze and fry bugs, I could probably use it as a refrigerant for food or makeshift stove when it's raining or something. Maybe even a potion, if those exist around here. Then again, they probably do, with how magic's a thing, but I need to focus on the present though, because the future can wait until I actually am able to get it.

Now....I think I'd be a bit crazy to just pluck it out of the ground. I have no idea what will actually happen if I touch it. It could burn my hand, since it's daytime, but I think I have an idea. Pushing my hand towards the flower, I slowly start to push my foot towards the plant. If it's made of magic, then it shouldn't just activate its effect. However, what am I supposed to do here to get it? Maybe I could get a seed? It'd probably be easier to carry around then a whole ass plant, considering my leaf back pack isn't really too big. But how do I make it seed? I don't exactly have pollen or anything to make it give seeds. Wait. I think I know how to game the system. Growth [Twilight Rose].

With that the single rose twitches slightly, before the ground beneath it begins to sift. The roots grow, while the rose itself grows into multiple bulbs, with its thorns lengthening in size and gaining a menacing purple glow around them. It's vines begin thickening as its volume increases. Then it slows down a fair bit, but I need to keep pushing it. If I'm right.....The rose bush doesn't give any noticeable change besides the thorns glowing a bit more, until something begins growing out of the bulbs themselves. Little blue and red pods, some bigger, while others having mixed colors begin falling to the ground. I reach down and gently touch them. They're a little hot or cold to the touch, depending on the color, but it's more like touching an ice cube or a warm car hood. Uncomfortable, but bearable. I pick up both sets, along with some nuts on the ground surrounding some nearby trees, back to the collapsed entrance. While walking over there, I put the rose seed pods into my back pack, and I finally reach the entrance, Kojo laying right beside it. Now, I have no idea where exactly I need to place these, but I think it'd be alright if I just threw it in a general arc through the pile of dirt and rocks. Some could tumble down the cracks to the bottom, and if I just grow them all 10 of them at once, maybe it'll work out? Well, no time like the present. I hastily spread the nuts through my hands, sieving it out in places where I don't think I've put any, and with that done, I step back. [Growth] Nuts.

Leafy shoots spread out throughout the rocks, as a rumbling begins to spread underneath. Rocks begin to tumble down, as roots as thick as my leg writhe into the ground, searching for a nice place to rest as the transformation begins to occur. In their writhing, they knock a few more rocks off, and even burst through some, trying to find water, I'm guessing. Their roots are flowing over the rocky surface of the ground before they find purchase within the softer soil out in front of the cave. Leaves begin to peek through some of the remaining rocks, as the trees' growth causes them to fall either further into the cave or outward in a series of miniature rock cavalcades, and as suddenly as it started, it stops. The rocks seem to have been either pushed aside or ground up in the nuts' unstoppable, but blind, search.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I couldn't really tell if we were able to get a straight path back into the cave though. Sure, there's now a dark recess where the trees have been growing, but that's all I can see. Slowly, I walk towards it and stick my hand into it. Moment of truth I suppose. And, like a blind man looking for his cane, I stumble into the darkness....and almost immediately fall on my face because of a goddamn rock the size of my head stubbing my magical toe out of my freshly grown foot, and somehow the force simply doesn't pass through the see-through organ but has actual weight to it. And so I fall onto the cave floor, filled with crags and tiny rocks piercing the flesh of my face and eyes.

"DEAR MERCIFUL!!@OJIRY&*T@EGQYWLJFHASHGl" I let out a scream of pain as I writhe on the ground clutching at my face. This isn't the most pain that I've been in, but it's certainly the most surprising. Plus, the rocks that have lodged themselves either nearby my eye, or directly into the crevices of it, aren't necessarily the most comfortable feeling.

"Dave, you ok?" The words of Kojo, while calm, almost seem to carry a hint of urgency. And while I am somewhat happy that more emotion is coming through the voice than before, I am still somewhat in pain as the natural regeneration of my body slowly pulls my head back together, pushing the rocks that have been lodged into me, out of my skin, as well as only leaving slight scars that I could feel slowly fading away.

"ASLDHQWIGUOQDAJGKGasdfasfsga......Yes Kojo. Of course I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be with all that yelling in pain?" My sarcasm doesn't seem to immediately come across to the wolf, as even though I cannot see him, I still notice that a pregnible pause had filled the air.

"Assume hardier than that." I narrow my eyes towards the entrance, the dark of the cave only slightly impeding my vision.

".....Just because I don't have lasting damage from it, doesn't mean I can't feel pain Kojo." Kojo is silent for a moment before I could hear a slight chuff from him, before I could see his form almost dwarf the passage that I created, his eyes almost glowing in the now darkened cave.

"Alright, but is there passage?" I bring my gaze away from Kojo and try to focus more on the path ahead. It seems to me like my spell does need the factors for growth included within a normal plants diet, as the less sunlight that is present within the cave the further you go in, the more wimpy and sickly looking the trees start to become, slowly getting brought down to size until there are only the failed nuts that had a single withering shoot along the cave floor. However, beyond that, I would not know, as the natural light does not simply give off enough for my eyes to pick out the normal areas of the cave I had beheld before.

"Seems to me like....it goes all the way through. It's just too dark to actually tell anything from outside." Kojo's form seems to shift from side to side for a moment, before I could hear a response from him.

"Ok. You go ahead. I'll catch up." A hint of surprise finds its way to my voice as I begin objecting almost immediately.

"What are you even talking about Kojo? Wasn't this your idea? Just push through the detritus and get over here."

".....Doesn't seem stable. If push myself through, might get more collapsing on me." At that, I bring my gaze away from the shadow of Kojo towards the roof of the cave, the one thing getting some amount of light from the outside. The ceiling was not stable whatsoever, with the only thing keeping it up being the malnourished branches of the trees. If Kojo were to move in here, he would definitely disturb them and cause yet another cave-in.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. Maybe I could do something in here?"

"Would appreciate, but wouldn't like it if you took all day." Is....is that sarcasm I hear? Didn't figure you were much for that Kojo, but I suppose that the conversation is slowly getting better between us. Maybe he's been sarcastic before now? Pushing that thought aside, the main problem still remains. How am I going to keep this cave from collapsing in on Kojo when he tries to go through? I could just put in more nuts in here and have them grow to the ceiling, but the problem with that, is that they only seem to like soft surfaces to grow in. Might not be able to grow any at all to support him through the passage. Hmmmm....

"I have an idea Kojo, though I got to tell you, I don't know if you might get hurt by this, so I suggest backing up a bit." Kojo's head slightly tilts, surrounded by the light of the sun outside.

"Hurt?" I nod, before gesturing with my hands and wiggling my fingers in a little sparkly fashion.

"Yeah, going to do some magic maybe."

"Oh! Rituals needed for clear more. Don't know why didn't do it in first place rather than this growth." There's a reason for that Kojo. I won't tell you why, but I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. For all I know, anything I try to do will just get me blown up or something. So, without further ado, I reach inside myself once more. Sure, I could stand still while this is happening, or even close my eyes, but Kundalini is active almost all the time now, so I might as well pace while I shape my mana within me.

I...I'm going to be honest here, this is extremely new territory. I could try maybe divining the secrets about why different symbols of magic do different things, but right now I don't necessarily have all the time in the world. Someone's counting on me to be quick with this, or at least accurate, so I have to think here. Growth has its limitations when the plant it's growing isn't made for the environment it's in. I also don't really see much else around me with my limited dark vision, so I can't just go on ahead and pluck a cave mushroom. I wouldn't even be able to see if there were more than the one eyeball thing left in this specific part of the cave. I could try to do another magical construct or something?

I at least know the magical prosthetic spell now, so if I just make a giant version of it, I'd have legs supporting the top of the cave. But, I don't really know what the spell's components actually are. I can't tell if I activate with the intention of big or something, I might just have a giant leg coming straight out of me. It'd be much safer to just try something different than mess with the components that make up that thing. I could also try using an oversized [Magic Spear], as it was mostly intent which shaped it, but it dissipates if it gets too far from my hand. In other words, I can't just use it to have supports in the cave cause they'd disappear when I wouldn't want them to. I could try to make my own spell, like with how I made magic spear on the fly, then again all I could remember feeling is raw intent and fumbling around. I don't know if what I was doing is wrong or not, but I'd rather not experiment before I'm actually able to talk to someone with experience regarding this. What does that leave me with though?

I push my focus towards the one thing I haven't really acknowledged the entire time since I awoke. The grey affinity. It's haziness almost invokes a sense of dread that I haven't really felt before. If I'm right, then if I just put raw mana or something through this window...I'll be able to get a basic spell that has the affinity belonging to decay. Now...I don't actually know what's going to happen when I put it through this. If I do this right, I can just destroy some of the plants covering the entrance, making it wide enough for Kojo to crawl through instead of just walking through it all. Hopefully what I get isn't an area of effect spell, otherwise I might hit Kojo with it by accident, and I don't think I can handle killing a friend on accident....again. Ok. Enough dwelling on the past, or worrying about consequences. Just....just do it.

With those....mediocre I suppose, words of encouragement, I start to work. I compress my mana down as much as I can. I notice that I'm able to do a bit more than I could do last time, but that's probably the steadily increasing amount of skill levels I should be getting. I focus on directing that energy flow towards the screen. There's a bit of resistance as the strand presses against it, but then it busts through. With that, I could feel...something flowing through my hands. I look down to see what changed, only to be slightly startled. My hands have...dust flaking off of them as an aura of grey seems to seep out from them. Huh....that's kind of cool. Almost forgot I could actually see mana types. I wave my hands around, my eyes being naturally drawn towards my skin slowly falling off before being replaced just as fast.

For using Decaying Touch, without knowing the spell, you have earned +1 INT, +1 WIS, and the spell: Decaying Touch

...So that's what it's called. Judging by the name, maybe this could help? I need to see the spell it has. Help Spell [Decaying Touch]

Decaying Touch: Lv20 (10/100 %)

Cost: (20 MP)

 This spell is a taboo amongst many self respecting mages. Why would you force someone to undergo rapid decay when you could just as easily throw acid or a fireball towards them? Those are at least much easier to heal than this. In fact, healing doesn’t really seem to do much to help, unless it’s high grade or it has a holy aspect towards it. With this spell, you are able to hasten the decay of anything that you touch, whether that be alive or dead. The higher the level, the faster your decay can affect the object you’re touching. Warning: The higher the level decaying touch gets, the more negative feedback you will receive. This translates to a negative health regeneration and possible loss of limbs. *Due to Affinity: Life, you have cancelled out low level versions of feedback, as well as, halved the damage it can do. *Due to Affinity: Decay, you have automatically learned the 20th level of this spell, as well as, doubled the damage it can do.

Max Attack: 220/sec Feedback: 0

...This is the first time a spell has an attack attached to it isn't it? That's kind of strange, given that [Magic Spear] is also an attack spell. Maybe it's because it's based on how well I use it? Also, this has probably been the most information that I've gotten out of a spell before. It's kind of concerning, given that it actually has a high amount of MP that I need to use. Then again, my affinity didn't make this spell free to use like the other spells I have. I mean, the only thing I'm using MP towards is the last half of my foot, so I can use this to be better at combat. Wait, if it's a touch based spell, could I...channel it through my magic spear? Something to test later I suppose.

From the description, I think I can use it on the rocks, as well as the trees, maybe. I mean, it says anything I touch, so it should work. I lean closer and just brush my hand against the rocks. They....I don't really know how to describe what's exactly happening here, but...it seems to me like the rocks are just flaking apart into dust....Huh, neat. Just got to cover my mouth so I don't breathe any of it in. So...I could just, keep on going through the entire cave-in, I suppose. I have this on, and I'm only losing about 5 MP a second. I'd have to use this fast, but it's doable. I wave me hand wildly through the entrance, clawing away heaps of rock and detritus between my fingers, before it to flakes away into the air. Then, I finally reach the trees near the entrance. I...don't really know what kind of thing would happen if I were to touch it, so I'm just not going to. There's always time to find out later on.

So, clearing out the rest of the rock and debris that littered the floor, making it so that the entrance is significantly deeper than it was before, the sunshine can finally come through the entrance far further, which had revealed my form, covered in dust with my hands the only thing somewhat clean. Coughing, I managed to cancel Decaying Touch, before yelling out of the cave.

"Kojo! It's safe to ~hack~...It's safe to come back." I watch the woods before noticing something important. Throughout the entire process, I had thought perhaps Kojo had left to get more water, as it was taking a bit longer than I had expected. However, Kojo did not leave. He had been there the entire time. Somehow his mossy fur had actually managed to change color. He had somehow just, crouched low to the floor and became the ground. I don't know if he somehow merged with it, or if it's just a color swap, but whatever he's doing....it's damn impressive and far more advanced than my simply [Stealth] would allow.

"Kojo! Dude, that's awesome! How are you even doing that?"

"...Tried to become forest like I was saying earlier. Figured should try it while you're busy."

"...Well, your natural stealth is off the charts. I don't think you need to practice, unless you want to move, while you're like that." Kojo seems to beam a bit as he walks over to me, and starts checking over my work.

"Hmmmm....Reasonable. So, spell worked assume?"

"Eh, oh yeah. It did, was able to bust through the rocks no problem." He arches an eyebrow at me in an almost incredulous manner.

"Why didn't you do it in first place?"

"Didn't know I could do it till now, I guess." His shoulders almost seem to shrug as he passes by me to sniff the entrance.

"Fair enough."

"So....ready to leave this place?" My question pulls him out of the trance he had pushed himself into, as he turns his head towards me.

"Sure. No time like present." With that, he brought himself away from my gaze and started walking through the entrance, further into the cave.

"Oh, idioms are getting across now, that's good." His ears perked a little bit, but other than that, there was basically no other reaction that came other than the slight twitch I could see happen along his head. Then, I simply heard him reply with a simple bark.

"What?"

"Nothing buddy, nothing important." I pat him on the back, or I at least try to as I follow behind him. I may have been able to leave a little bit of a pathway for me to walk at eye level of him, but his form was a little further away than I had thought it wouldv'e been. When I had finally managed to land my hand onto the small of his back, my thoughts were driven away from the present and more towards the realms of the future. I may not know what could be beyond, or what dangers might lurk in the shadows, but I do know one thing. If I'm able to conjure magic weapons, beat up mind flayers, and heal my goddamn friend from the brink of death, I don't care what happens. No matter what, I think we'll be alright.