It seems by the time I was done with experiments, it was already early morning of the next day…. talk engrossed in something…. No wait let me brag….see the power of my concentration….could only be broken by my hunger pangs….

:’(

I am so hungry!!!

Words fail to describe my hunger!!

As soon as I step out of my hole (for a while now, I feel like some sort of animal that burrows into the ground to sleep) I began stuffing the natural forage surrounding the oasis to calm my hunger.

It tasted so bad.

I don’t know what I ate but it turned my breath green in color.

Poison breath acquired.

Poison Breath: You can now spew poisonous gas. You can run out of poisonous gas so munch on more Aethiti’s leaves when you run out!

Cool!

The leaves helped in satisfying my hunger for now….but what I needed was meat…

*sniff* sniff*

Ooooh!! All the delicious smells from the city are making their way into my nose.

*grumble*

Great I am hungry again.

I think it helps that I can now hunt my own food.

I would have liked to secretly enter the city but the risks are too high. Like who in their right mind would want to sneak a bite off from the Spartans?

It took a bit of time, but tonight I hit jack pot.

I found a natural hidden cavern filled with rats!

What’s more the fumes from the cavern seem to have made the rats sluggish.

LOL.

Stupid rats sleeping in such a cave.

This was literally an all you can eat buffet.

There were skinny rats, fat rats, hairy rats, not hairy rats….so much variety.

I admit there is the lack of thrill which one gets from hunting but I am good with this.

Tonight I will feast!

Grilled rat!

Tomorrow smoked rat!

Maybe the next day I can have rat salad!

Yeah, this is really sad. I am in a pitiful state and I am sure I should be crying right now.

If I were home right now, I could be munching away on ramen or sushi….but here I am …. Eating hairy rats.

I pick two or three of the meatiest rats and head back to camp.

I’ll eat rat steak tonight.

Rat meat isn’t that good since it is so tough…and lacks any sort of good taste….

But I am not going to complain…

When I reach camp..I realize I can’t start a fire…

F*ck.

Usually, I cooked on the fire the Abbe left running….

I could see the dreams of rat steak crumbling….

I feel so broken.

I just want a morsel of normal decent food. Just a tiny bit which is fit for human consumption…

I want to cry….but without tear ducts I can’t….

I think crying helps release frustrations….now I can’t even do that…

Thinking how broken my life has become….that I can’t even cry….made me want to cry even more….

Why did I leave my life of luxury for this?

I wasn’t a millionaires son but even an average Japanese person’s income would be likeable to a life of luxury compared to the way I am living now.

I sleep in a hole, my daily diet is rats and insects and I have no one to talk to.

Les Miserables.

This game is breaking me.

There is a mental strain on players which would go unnoticed; lack of a safe zone.

Players here must constantly be fighting for their lives, desperately trying to survive…

I stuff myself with rats and go back into my hole.

There was training that needs to be done.

The five days whizzed by quickly, mostly because my training was absorbing most of my time.

With no need to go looking for food everyday, it was fairly easy to focus on training.

I must say I have really stuffed myself with a lot of rats.

My daily meals now are twelve rats.

Normally, my body can get by with just three a day…actually that’s the most I can find in a single hunt….

This is in some twisted way paradise?

***

I waited at the outskirts where we had parted our ways.

We had decided to meet up on the fifth day right here.

Nobody turned up.

I waited the entire day.

My eyes were fixed on the two idiotic guards who wore dresses like ancient Greek warriors - the whole time I watched them and any movement at the gate.

No movement at the gate…nothing…

No one turned up.

I feel like I have been abandoned…

However, I must keep hope.

I am certain that something must be detaining my guardians….

I must keep hope and faith.

I don’t trust people….

But that is my weakness not my strength…

The gates closed in the evening (like Hyrule castle) and there was no going in or out now.

I retreat back to my hole.

I feel lonely for the first time in this game.

I think I’ll eat extra rats tonight to make myself feel better.

***

When I entered the cave, I felt something was off.

Targets: 98

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

My mini radar popped open and heat seeking vision was activated.

I could see the rats still in the drugged like state…

I don’t know why but it has been bothering me for a while….

I have never once seen these rats go hunting….not even once….

Is there something in this cave which lures in rats and traps them?

Or are they being gathered here?

Like some sort of bird’s nest? Where the mom keeps getting food.

My vision and radar didn’t show anything other than rats in the cave.

As I walked in deeper, I could see more and more rats….however these were skinnier…

This is starting to get disturbing.

I am not sure where this is leading….could be a quest….could be a trap….could also be nothing…

Now that I think about it…shouldn’t I have been curious to explore this cave before?

I really should have done so before….

I walked in deeper and deeper…its becoming damp here…. the moistness is killing my sense of smell…

There were no more rats but now I stumbled across larger creatures….dead creatures….rotting creatures….

What were they all doing here?

The deeper I walked….the more rotten and decayed bodies I came across….

Now most people would at some point say okay something is not right here… I would too…but you see I’ve been drugged…remember the fumes of the cave?

Yup, my sense of danger has completely shut down.

I am very high right now. I feel like can conquer anything.

Why I am the almighty slime!

As I walked even deeper, the rotten bodies of animals and monsters were replaced by bones of animals and monsters…

I feel like laughing in this dreary place.

I feel like I walked into the stomach of some monster…

You know like the venus fly trap?

“I hereby christen you Venus Rat Cave.” I said as I rubbed the walls of the cave.

“This is so soft…” I said while rubbing the walls of the cave…

Were the walls so constricted? Was the ceiling always this low?

My mind is finding it difficult to piece information together…

As I rubbed the wall, I noticed my hands were covered in some kind of sticky wet water like substance…

“What is this?” I rubbed my fingers together…water? saliva?

I taste some.

“Acid?” It tasted like acid….kidding I have no idea what acid tastes like however I got this message:

Acidity increased by 1. +1 ACD

“Trippy…” I barely managed to mumble those words.

***

I am not certain how many days I have passed in this cave. I tried looking for a way out but could not find any.

I am getting by on the animals left here and liquid dripping through the walls of the cave.

It’s terribly dark however some parts of the cave glow in the dark….with night vision I can barely tell the colours of my surrounding….I am getting by on heat vision…

I find myself no longer worrying about Maylon or the Abbe….

I feel very liberated….

***

I have no sense of night or day….

I can tell that I am dying….

The acid liquid is corroding my internal organs….with the little intellect I have left remaining I fight temptation to drink more of it.

***

I learnt of a new skill which I had no idea I had.

Spore release is now active

***

I don’t know what day it is…but for some strange reason…I begin licking the cave…of course I can’t be certain if this what really happened…however that’s the best I can remember now…

It tasted so good…

At some point all that licking…must have tickled?

The walls shuddered a bit…

I licked some more…

*burp*

Releasing Aethiti Poisonous Gas.

Oops.

Sorry…

I am not sure what happened next but I felt air being sucked in….and then…

Whooooosh!

I was hit by such a strong force of air and spat out into the open…

I was feeling so groggy…

I am outside…

The cave was moving…no closing…

Food cave disappearing…

I believe little by little my senses returned to me…

The venus rat cave of doom disappeared when I awoke fully.

***

I am not sure how I got out…was it the licking? The poisonous gas? Or both?

I think I just lucked out.

No more trusting food that comes by easily.

I look around. It’s night time.

I don’t know how many days it has been…however it’s time to head back.

I find my hole; thankfully it’s still there.

I find some sort of message written inside it….

My heart started beating quickly.

I didn’t understand the language but I am certain it was the Abbe’s work.

Looks like I haven’t been abandoned after all.

I guess in the end everything worked out.

I am not sure what's written but I am certain it is hope.

If I wait, they will check on me soon enough.

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