Jean sniffed the air, but didn't detect the odor of the infected. “What's in there?”
The spirit didn't react in the slightest, but that didn't frustrate her. She took the notebook and began to leaf through it. The runes pointing in that direction on the sketch didn't resemble those of spiders. In fact, they resembled those of the crystal-encrusted crabs that lived in the puddles of the great lake. That gave her some respite.
"Do you know who wrote this notebook?"
The spirit remained impassive. Jean suspected he knew, but could not reveal it. Rules again?
She focused on the new grotto. A corridor that became narrower with each step, to the point of having to move sideways. Luckily, she only encountered a couple of souls at the beginning, before it was impossible to dodge them.
The grotto narrowed a lot before widening. The dampness in that area was palpable. Not only because of the heavy smell, but also because of the mold growing that almost made her slip. The sound of a small stream of water in the distance was probably the culprit.
To complicate matters further, an intense light from above blinded her. It couldn't be outside light, it was too blue. At that height, the grotto was not particularly wide, but it was so high that she could not see the beginning.
After getting used to the sudden change in brightness, she located the source of the light source on a stone ledge about 15 meters up. It was a soul, and from the size and intensity with which it shone, it couldn't be one like the others. It must have been the soul of a very powerful creature in life. One of which not even the bones remained. Had it fallen from above?
The grotto inhabitants soon startled her from multiple directions. Crabs very similar to those already seen near the lake, but smaller, darker and above all, aggressive.
The whispers identified them as Cave Crab Brood. Jean stopped to think how the ones in the lake could grow so large, these ones could barely fit in the palm of one hand. They also had no blue crystal shards on their carapaces.
They tried to grab her with the pincers and, although they were much slower than she was, several managed to pinch her skin. They didn't handle very well being squashed by her like cockroaches. The rest ended up as part of a long crab skewer on her spear. “Crab is on the menu today!”
Devouring them wasn't profitable, it consumed so much stamina to destroy something so hard that it barely satisfied the hunger. They weighed too little, as if they were practically empty inside. Jean supposed they must be starving.
She chased the escaping ones until she hunted them down. After transmuting the last remaining piece of rusty armor to get some coins and generate hunger, she went back to devouring. She had to consume more than a hundred to get anything interesting out of them.
[You have learned Nimireth’s Toughness — Rank Basic. Unique skill.
You gain +1 extra Toughness for every 10 points you have in the attribute.]
The whispers let her know that in order to further improve the skill's range for free, she would have to be patient. She had to find genetic material from other species that would complement it. Very resistant species.
“If it's free, it's welcome”
The whispers sounded now just as she remembered them from her visions. A wave of almost unintelligible voices offering virtually nothing more than simple advice and basic information. "I was kind of dumb for not realizing that the spirit was supplanting them. There’s a big difference!"
“[Don't blame yourself so hard! I have experience.]”
Jean looked back, but did not see the mist form of the spirit. “What the hell do you want me to see here?”
“[You're getting warmer!]”
Her advance attracted the attention of larger specimens. At least 10 kilos. Jean thought they were their siblings or parents, until she saw how they killed the smaller ones and ate them.
"I can't stand bullies! For that alone, you'll all die!"
“[That's a bit hypocritical. What are you then?]”
Her voice attracted waves of them; they came from everywhere. However, only a few focused on attacking her. They were obsessed with eating each other even when she attacked them.
The spear was useless against them; they were too hard. She had to equip the two-handed hammer to let them know that she was not their meal.
The fight dragged on to the point where she felt very weak again. The purifying effect of the magic water from the waterfall had lost its strength and the remedies were not enough.
After only ten minutes, she was exhausted. Luckily, transmuting and devouring them brought more than just recovery and money.
[You have learned Pain Resistance — Rank Basic.
Increase your capacity to withstand pain. The base value is 1% of the sum of your attributes. Additionally, it increases by 1% per player level. Current value, 8,53%.
Jean shrugged her shoulders; everything that improved her was welcome. For the first time the original whispers announced to her that she could level up. The announcement was not as striking as the one the spirit had simulated. It no longer felt like a video game.
“[You miss it? I can keep doing it if you want.]”
“No!” The last thing she wanted was to be reminded that he had deceived her like a fool.
Jean bought more potions and some remedies. She saved the green coins for something important. For the moment, she was fine with what she had.
The problem was that she had been wanting to level up since the lake, and she had no decent corpses to recover from corruption afterwards. After much thought, she decided to take the risk. The spirit didn't complain at the idea, so she would increase two levels in one go and palliate the discomfort with some remedies later.
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 15
Agility: 15
Toughness: 20
Resistance: 15
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 1 (+16)
Willpower: 20
Perception: 13 (+2)
"I want to upgrade Linguistic to Expert Rank in one go. Can I do it?"
[Linguistic has increased to Expert Rank.
Allows you to understand, learn and communicate in the most difficult languages of the new world. These include all Elvish variants, the voices of the dead and some ancient languages.]
"I hope this is worth it!"
After waking up, the discomfort was as devastating as ever. A remedy was enough to counteract it, but not to return her to her pre-level-up state. The losses in Strength and Agility had returned and she didn't miss them.
She had no time to waste. She opened the notebook and searched for the sketch she had previously marked. What she discovered were little more than names and a small note in the margin.
“Danger! Small humanoid crab at the bottom. Don't dare to approach it if you're not sure you can hurt it.”
"And what makes it so dangerous?"
Corruption and hunger prevented her from keeping reading. She moved deeper, but with caution. Her diminished attributes had made her somewhat insecure.
It didn't take her long to reach a new, very narrow area. Again it was difficult to move forward, but after emerging through a narrowing, she reached an area full of remains. They were not human, but crab carapaces similar to the ones she had devoured. Most of them were dry and empty, but some were still fresh.
“I see someone else has been feasting here too!”
“[You're about to burn!]”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
That disturbed her greatly. The notebook indicated that Mr. Krabs was not just any crab, but if it was so dangerous, why hadn't it killed all the crabs?
Huge marks on the rock quickly answered her doubts; Mr. Krabs couldn't fit through there.
"[Be careful! Later don't say that I didn't warn you!]"
She gulped as she waited for a warning of danger from the real whispers, but nothing. She hoped they would at least do that. Wasn't she being warned because Mr. Krabs had died of a stomach ache?
Jean needed to be sure that going deeper was not suicide. She kicked a few dry carapaces and retreated to just beyond the narrow area. There she hid and waited.
As soon as she heard something approaching, she peeked out of the corner of her eye. Something dark, dirty and smelly approached slowly. There was very little left of Mr. Krabs.
It had two very long arms and only two very short legs that forced it to walk on all fours. Its entire body was covered with a thick flesh-colored exoskeleton and a large carapace on its back protected its entire upper body, especially the small head underneath it. There was nothing resembling fingers on its extremities. Both its feet and hands were pincers, much larger on the hands.
Jean was shocked for several seconds when she realized the resemblance to the mix of different versions of a Mirelurk.
»Cave Crab (Ascended Mutation)«
Level ???
Name: ????
Marks: [Gluttony], [Crab Eater], [Torturer], [Killer] , …
Details: This creature’s attributes make it a deadly opponent for you.
She swallowed hard. “Ascended?”
The creature rummaged through the remains of the carapaces hoping to find the unwary crab that had snuck in, but found nothing. That annoyed it, and it picked up one of the half-eaten crabs to put it in its mouth. Suddenly, it stopped and small antennae near its mouth moved in all directions.
The time that elapsed since it detected her scent and turned slightly was an eternity compared to the speed at which it jumped on her. To call it fast was an understatement. Although it could not fit through the narrow passage due to its size, it managed to get one of its long arms in, grabbing her right hand with its pincers just before she recoiled.
Jean pulled with all her might, but all she achieved was to experience new heights of pain. Her cries of despair bore witness to this. It didn’t matter how hard her body was, her fingers broke one by one. Its grip strength was enormous, yet it seemed to be careful not to sever her hand. Terrified, Jean understood what it wanted.
She leaned her legs on the uneven wall and equipped the dagger in her left hand. She looked at her hand and kept pulling so that it wouldn't drag her to certain death. She was not going to let it drag her to its ground even if she had to cut off her fingers. She raised the dagger, but in the end she didn't actually cut the fingers with the blade; she fell backwards without them first.
Tears came as she crawled away, leaving a trail of blood in the wall. When she felt safe, she leaned her body against the wall. She didn't understand why, but her whole body trembled from the intense pain. She wrapped her intact hand around the three missing fingers; she could no longer fight with that arm. Not for a while.
She conjured Restorative Healing and overloaded it. Relief and healing came like a balsam, but the pain didn't go away. "I've had worse wounds, why does this one hurt so much?"
The whispers explained that the reconstruction of the fingers would be slow. A process that required disproportionate amounts of mana and several hours. Losing matter wasn't like closing wounds.
“DAMN MOTHERFUCKER!”
“[Don't take it to heart! It's just trying to live!]”
“I’m talking to you!”
“[I told you many times to be careful! Did I or didn't I?]”
“YES, you did!”
At the sound of Jean's voice, the creature went crazy. It lunged at the walls with unbridled eagerness as if it had the most delicious prey in front. The most important of all its trapped existence.
The creature was out of control. Sparks flew as it struck the narrowing with its pincers. They were very hard, but they were not made of steel. Enraged, it tried again, but this time, a red glow imbued them. The fearsome impacts sent out more sparks but also fragments of stone.
Jean stepped back even further when one hit her in the face. “How can a creature use effects? In theory, only players can do it…”
“[It can do them because of the genetic material that has mutated it.]”
“How did it achieve such a modification?”
“[Devouring.]”
“Are you saying that thing is a Devourer? A child of Nimireth?”
“[Yes and no!]”
Tired of trying in vain, and exhausted by the drop in mana, Mr Krabs dug the tip of its pincers into the index finger that lay at its filthy feet. Very slowly, and as if it were the greatest delicacy, it placed it in its unpleasant mouth, chewing it slowly with delight.
An intense painful sensation made Jean writhe. She clenched her teeth. As implausible as it seemed, she felt the creature eating her finger. The suffering lasted for several minutes. "Why is this happening?"
“[Nimireth entity is unique and complex.]”
“Are you fucking kidding me?! How is it possible that the fingers are still part of me?! Argh! ... C-can I get them back?”
“[The fingers no. The genetic material of Nimireth, yes.]”
Jean assimilated with astonishment that Nimireth was part of her. She didn't only have her blessing inside her. That infuriated her. Why hadn't she realized it until now? Were they two separate beings or just one?
“Explain yourself!”
“[You have before you the result of a unique anomaly. Although the crab is not a child of Nimireth, it can assimilate you because its genetic material shares traits with yours. This has given it, among other characteristics, Devour.]”
[Devour — Basic Rank.
Characteristic of any being that possesses Nimireth's genetic material. Allows beings to assimilate genetic material from others and incorporate it into its own to mutate.]
“I guessed as much!”
Furious at the pain of having another finger swallowed, her mind raced with conjectures, some far-fetched, some more plausible.
She tried her luck by playing dumb. “Earlier, you spoke of my predecessors. Where are they now?”
“[There are currently no other children of Nimireth. She can only have one child at a time. Therefore, you are and will be unique until you die. However, it’s more complicated than that.]”
Jean hit one of her conjectures, but feigned surprise. The pain was not faked. It was time to confirm the other. “Let me get this straight! Are you suggesting that one of my predecessors has died, resulting in that thing over there?”
“[Correct! Nimireth's generic material cannot be destroyed, but it can be ingested and merged with other material. Thus, the next child of Nimireth will be able to retrieve it. That is one of the reasons why your class is forbidden.]”
Jean would bet all her cards that he had something to do with their deaths, but this wasn't the time to screw up. "That's nonsense! If each child of Nimireth dies and is devoured by the next one, and the next one can retrieve the material from others, there would be a time when you would have a massive amount of material that would create a colossus of biblical proportions."
“[That theory is wrong. You are assuming that Nimireth's genetic material is infinite. It does not multiply, it only merges. It’s either gained or lost! However, your case is special!]”
The rules seem to prevent him from giving her the information, but not confirming it or further explaining it. “Enlighten me!”
“[You possess the last remnant of Nimireth merged with your being. She no longer exists as a single being. All that is left of her is now within you.]”