[Lifeshroom Stew] = Lifeshroom (0.8-1kg) + Vines (Any, 0.1-0.2kg) + Meat (level 11+, 0.1-0.12kg) + Water (Fresh, 0.8-1L) + [Bowl] (Any) + [Campfire] (Any, 370-380°K)
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Jay opened his eyes and saw nothing but black.
His shoulder ached. His legs too. He couldn’t understand why in his awakening phase, but the moment he rolled onto his side, he collided with a burnt-out campfire and remembered.
He lurched straight up, only to see nothing but more black. Distant skittering echoed, reminding him of his current place. It took minutes before he managed to re-light the campfire, using another hardwood log as the base. The embers flared up as his flint struck together, and the fire was reborn.
And the cavern was revealed again. Jay had made the baller play of squirreling himself into a tighter tunnel, using planks of hardwood as a foundation for basic walls before and after. Because of his genius gamer strats, he’d managed to earn a night of sleep without interruption. Nothing could get through here.
With a yawn, he opened up the Guide and did his morning routine of checking his Stats.
Name: Jay Reis (Copper Age)
Vitality – 36/42 (Wounded+1)
Hunger – 27/72
Thirst – 11/24
Fatigue – 48/48
Sanity – 58/100
He’d forgotten to clear the wounds? Jay grimaced. What a terrible play! How many subs would he lose this time?
Then his eyes fell lower, and he groaned at this latest discovery. Not again. No wonder he’d been thinking in gamer terms with this drop in sanity. It had never occurred for him to top off. Was this his first day now, or something?
But when he reached to his side, his fingers hit empty space, and not the waterskin filled with concentrated lifeberry tea he always kept on hand. That had been lost when he fell down here, and he hadn’t bothered to replace it. How could he, anyway? Without the precious lifeberries scattered throughout the surface, nothing could be done to replace that missing component.
Jay quickly packed up shop from there, threw together some more torches, and returned to work. Recovering thirst and hunger was easy enough, but sanity without lifeberries created a unique challenge. Would there be any alternatives down here? Even if there were, he could only weather another night before his brain went completely kaput.
Assuming he could survive the fight at all.
He stroked his chin, contemplating how this twist would alter the meta of this spelunking run.
Back to Bronze League for me.
* * *
The coal torch burned hot in the cold dark of this deep cavern pit. Shadows shifted warily against its fury, their owners biding the time to strike. Other gemstones and ore veins made for brilliant displays, radiating hope in this otherwise quiet abyss.
And Jay marched down the cavern path, fuming for all the time while being lost. All his gamer senses screamed that he needed to keep walking, but how could he!? With so many untapped gemstones and upscaled ore available, he was throwing the perfect opportunity to mine away.
Screw it! Jay still had plenty of time before night came again. Hell, he wasn’t convinced that morning had arrived yet. Why not spend a couple hours filling out his Bag ‘a Mats? He’d eventually reach the surface anyway, so he might as well salvage some value from this catastrophe.
His sanity didn’t matter either. Like Desmond had said before, it was just a number to eventually get fixed like anything else. He could use this moment to his advantage. His mind was pushing at full strength as it sought efficiencies and synergies in this pit, and nothing was off the table.
He clutched his pickaxe tight again and went to work.
Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack.
Yeah, this was the proper way to play this game. All those fears and concerns didn’t affect him. They only harmed his character. Like an avatar in a video game, he did not need to concern himself with any of those numbers until they got too low. Then he’d just fix them like a composed, rational actor.
That’s how he’d always won these types of scenarios, anyway. Jay might have prioritized playing RPGs and FPS games back on Earth, but they all followed the same principles. So long as he treated his own body and mind with objective amorality, he’d see this day through.
People weren’t much different either. Relationships only created more entanglements to drag his character down. He need not worry about them.
Jay cleared the vein and moved to the next. His stomach started to growl before long and throat grew parched, but he forced himself to finish the node before moving on. This was silver ore+1 he was mining. He couldn’t just walk away from a prize so powerful! That was just wasteful.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and guzzled the last of his purified water. Some monster meat still remained in his Bag ‘a Mats, just waiting to be upscaled, but that could be allowed to slack while he looked for another source of water.
His arms continued to slack, and his legs weakened as he marched further down the tunnel. The exercise quickly became insufferable, more because he couldn’t keep mining with his Stats this low. He’d have to remember to double back and collect everything he could. Too much loot was down here.
The sound of roaring water flowed nearby. Finally. Jay marched straight there, ignoring everything else. He plunged his head into the underground stream the second he got close enough and guzzled it without thought.
…Only to vomit a second later, the chilled water splattering against the cavern floor. He tried to drink more, but it was a sudden struggle to so much as breathe.
What is it this time? Jay consulted the Guide. A new Affliction had come to his Stats, this one lowering his vitality and hunger cap. He flipped back to the Lexicon for the full description.
Pneumonia – A bacteria infection often gained from drinking underground sources of water that have been polluted by fungi. This Affliction will greatly impact energy consumption along with total vitality and hunger.
Well, that’s a new one. Jay had drank from several of these wells without incident, so what made this one different? He glanced further down the tunnel and saw a bushel of mushrooms sprouted along its edge.
But before he could consider his own stupidity, a sudden pain exploded in his chest. He gasped for air, now fighting on two fronts. No one needed to consult the Guide to know what had happened here. Not after expending all that energy mining before, along with the extra debuff from contracting pneumonia…
His hunger was well in the red now.
Jay quickly yanked more monster meat from his Bag ‘a Mats and went right to work. Crafting the campfire, boiling more water, getting the monster meat ready for stew. This last step pained him most… He was missing out on precious vitality by not upscaling the meat first! But his vision was blurring, and he no longer had the time or energy to see this through.
Why couldn’t the Guide give him fucking hard percentages for a change!? He should at least have the chance to metagame these crises!
But a colder, darker reality took hold as he watched the water slowly bubble to life, and it was one that he could not deny, even in this low-sanity state.
This wasn’t a game. This was his life, once again at the razor’s edge, all because he didn’t treat his life with the severity it deserved. Because he’d fixated on progression above survival, he’d been driven to this point… Yet again.
The meat stew finished, and Jay quickly swallowed it down. Already, his stomach calmed as the sweet elixir rolled through.
It’s not a video game, Jay reminded himself. You’re just going insane down here.
He had to remember that, more than anything. Pretending that the game-like world with video game rules wasn’t actually a video game had gotten him through so many trials before. Maybe that was the pro strat right now. Gaslight himself until he followed his high-sanity build. But how could Jay pull that off when the contradictions were so readily available?
It’s not a video game, he insisted again. It’s definitely not a video game. Yeah, if he said that long enough, he was bound to at least get his avatar to go through the motions…
“Oh!” a strange female voice blurted out from the shadows. “Interloper stuck in cave, hrm!?”
Jay blinked. “Huh? Who’s out there?”
“Yes!” she chuckled. “Roota have much treat for you. Come, come!”
He peered into the shadows. Purple alchemic light burned bright from a pair of sconces, and a small oaken kiosk sat behind, with random plants and fungi arranged for display and a silhouette of a person standing beside. He couldn’t make out features at this distance, but… Did she have long hair?
Can’t drop your guard. Annywn was a PVP server, after all. Jay held his cutlass tight and marched to the person who hailed him.
But it was not a person that he saw. This thing was humanoid in shape only. Like a manifestation of Natura applied to a woman, the skin was made of grass-covered bark, polished into immaculate features. Eyes made of jade stared forth without pupils, and a thin slit ran across its jaw like a mouth. Branches with leaves were fused with the wood beneath, and moss overflowed in choice areas. The legs disappeared into a tangle of roots before stopping at the granite underneath.
Just a statue, he realized.
“Hello!?” Jay called out, looking for the actual owner.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The head of the plant-statue snapped his way. Its jaw dropped. “Hrm!? Roota welcomes you to shop. Trade shinies for interloper Vitus, yes!” The jaw closed.
Jay flopped onto his ass. That statue didn’t just talk to him… Not like a normal creature. Its jaw simply opened, and words flowed out.
“Are you a robot?” Jay asked.
The jaw dropped again. “Hrm? No, no! Roota not made with Fulmen and Aes. Only Vitus and Natura, yes.” It closed.
“You’re a spawn of Natura?” Jay asked, gripping his sword tight.
“No! Only essence. Roota make trade with interlopers, yes.”
What the hell was going on? Jay consulted the Guide. At a bare minimum, there had to be something.
Sprigg Champion (level ???) – A champion for the Spriggs Empire. Some of these creatures are known for defying Natura’s will to trade with Expatriates, though only if they are not provoked.
Contains a monster core.
Research is available.
He stared at the level uncertainty, his eyes widened. How powerful was this thing?
Jay rubbed his eyes, his bearings coming together. The kiosk sat besides. All sorts of accessories remained sprawled out.
“Let me get this straight,” Jay asked. “Your name is ‘Roota,’ and you’re like a shopkeeper offering to trade me items I need?”
Jaw drop. “Yes, yes! Roota make good trade for you, yes. Offer shiny for Vitus. You need for sanity, hrm?” Close.
Don’t let them get to you, he told himself. Remember that you’re definitely not playing a game. This shopkeeper NPC isn’t actually a shopkeeper NPC.
Jay squinted suspiciously. “When you say shiny, are you talking about gemstones or metals?”
Roota tilted her head. “Hrm? Both! Aes most shiny if pure, but essence comes from much. Shiny baubles good for trade, yes.”
What the fuck was this thing talking about? He once again consulted the Guide for some way to navigate this monster’s weird verbal mannerisms but came up short.
Roota stood like a statue, and now that Jay had a moment to adjust to the shifting light, he could make out a slightly darker shade of jade in her eyes, like pupils focused onto him. As he watched back, they suddenly blinked. Sideways, like an insect.
And Jay was pretty sure his sanity dropped another couple of points.
“Alright, Roota,” he said. “You’re telling me that I have to trade you metal and gemstones for something that will help with my sanity, right? Is that what I’m supposed to do?”
Drop. “Yes, yes! Shiny for Vitus, hrm?” Close.
Man, that was getting real annoying, real fast. “What would you recommend?”
Roots suddenly sprouted below Roota’s base, curling around the kiosk like tentacles before pointing to a specific mushroom, scarlet and glistening, with gills beneath its base.
“Lifeshroom brings strong Vitus for the mind, yes,” Roota said. “Perfect for interloper in your state, hrm!?”
Jay drew near. The Guide buzzed as it took in the options. Holy shit. His Crafting tree practically exploded with all the new recipes created.
Sure enough, there was an alternate recipe under Cooking that let him make “Lifeshroom Stew,” designed to raise sanity like lifeberry tea. And it was in the 40+ vitality range, perfect for his current crisis.
“How much?” Jay asked.
The lipless line of Roota’s mouth curled up a fraction of an inch. “Much essence, yes.”
Words started scribbling across the kiosk, displaying information like item values below the different mushrooms, fruits, and flowers. The one below the lifeshrooms stood out the most.
Lifeshroom – 150E/kg
A scale sat in the middle as well, with blank letters below. Jay took the hint and pulled out a block of copper ore from his Bag ‘a Mats and placed it to be appraised. The letters adjusted
Copper Ore (3.4kg) – 0.74E
Jay gasped. “Seriously!? That’s it?”
Roota chuckled. “Aes better when pure, yes. Terra essence reduce shiny.”
Needs to be smelted first. Just great. “You aren’t going anywhere, are you, Roota?”
“No, no! Roota make good trade with interloper, yes.”
So it was that Jay went back to crafting. With his stored mats and tools on hand, he quickly assembled a workbench and set up his smelting operation yet again. The furnaces were easy enough to make, and plenty of coal could be collected in his space. It wasn’t long before he was cooking copper again.
He placed the finished product in the kiosk, still smoking hot.
Copper Bar (1.7kg) – 4.1E
Jay frowned. “Is that really all I get for a block of copper?”
She tittered. “Shiny worth much, yes!?”
Just because every RPG shopkeeper rips off players, doesn’t mean that Roota must be an RPG shopkeeper. Jay just had to keep telling himself that until he believed it.
With clenched teeth, he went back to his craft and smelted some more. Jay ended up burning through his non-upscaled mats first, resolved to save the rest of better research. Bar after bar worked its way onto the kiosk as Jay grinded them out, with more saved to purchase vines, thankfully at a cheaper rate.
Roota’s roots vibrated as the exchange was complete. Her jaw dropped. “Excellent trade, interloper. You do well, yes!?” Close.
Don’t think. Just do.
With his campfire still nearby, he created this last craft, boiling the water, slicing and dicing the ingredients, and finally, pouring them into his wooden bowl. The contents boiled before melding together.
Jay swallowed the finished lifeshroom stew, and his mind grew to ease at once.
Then he stared at the wooden woman covered in plants with a magical kiosk beside… Right in the middle of a cave… And he had to double-check his Stats to ensure the stew worked as promised.
Jay sighed once satisfied. “Alright, Roota, I’m feeling better. What else you got?”
Her jaw dropped. “Roota have much, hrm!?”
The two went back and forth from there. Now that his mind was healthy, Jay felt ready to make decisions that prioritized all the right things. He poured through the rest of the kiosk in search of anything that would give him an edge down here.
It turned out that Roota was incapable of crafting most recipes herself. Thus, she relied on trades with Expatriates to supply her shop, which she in turn sold back to other spriggs. Jay suspected the prices were horrifically inflated to make this profitable, but being stuck in a mine meant that beggars couldn’t be choosers.
It was a strange system too. The currency base for Roota was the essence quantity that could be extracted from the different gemstones and metals, but with an added quality factor if he managed to refine it up a tier. He couldn’t extrapolate the exact multipliers, but they made exchanges more worthwhile for upscaled mats, and terrible when unrefined.
In the end, Jay managed to load up on all sorts of necessities, though not without burning through more of his collected ores than he would’ve liked.
The trades more than made up for it though. He could mine as much ore as needed, but getting essential resources from the surface was a godsend down here, and there was no telling how much longer it would take to find his way back home.
He studied his Bag ‘a Mats with a sigh. Did she really have to be so stingy with some of these?
“One more thing,” Jay said once finished.
Roota gaped. “Hrm!?”
“What’s the deal with the ‘interloper’ thing? You keep calling me that. Why?”
“Interloper not belong in Annwyn. Natura rises to destroy them, yes.”
“But why?”
“Because interlopers are enemies, yes. Natura protects Annwyn.”
Jay grimaced. “How can you say that? We’re not fighting, are we?”
“Doesn’t matter. Interlopers are demons.” Her brow slanted, almost angrily. “They consume. They corrupt.
“They will destroy Annwyn if left unchecked.”
Name: Jay Reis (Copper Age)
Vitality – 39/39 (Wounded+1 (Treated+1)), (Pneumonia)
Hunger – 47/48 (Pneumonia)
Thirst – 24/24
Fatigue – 43/48
Sanity – 87/100
Main Crafts: Alchemy 1, Armor Crafting 2, Base Building 2, Cooking 1, Medicine 1, Tailoring 1, Tool Crafting 3, Weapon Crafting 2.
Weapon Crafts: Axes 3, Bows 4, Clubs 3, Daggers 3, Spears 5, Swords 7.
Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 5, Light Armor 2, Medium Armor 6, Shields 6.
Character Skills:
[Forbidden Knowledge]
Armor Skills:
Heavy Armor: [Push], [Stampede]
Medium Armor: [Recover], [Leap], [Waterform]
Light Armor: [Dash]
Shield: [Brace], [Track], [Break]
Weapon Skills:
Axes: [Chop]
Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot]
Clubs: [Bash]
Daggers: [Slice]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash], [Rend]
Cursed Items:
[Bag ‘a Mats]
Armor:
[Copperplate Hat] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Coat] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Leggings] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Shoes] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Gloves] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
Weapons:
[Pig Iron Cutlass+1] (Sharpened), (Affinity+1)
[9mm Semi-Automatic Pistol] (Accurate+2), (Quick): Contains 4 [9mm Cartridge] (JHP)
Tools:
[Copper Knife+3]
[Copper Axe+3]
[Copper Pickaxe+3]
Boons:
[Minor (Speed)]