The next room was almost the same thing only it was fully functional. The runes and controls were lit up with pulsing lights and there was an orange energy field of some kind separating the pit from the booth. I went over to the ‘window’ the field made and peered into the containment pit that it looked out upon.
The first thing I noticed was that it was a lot bigger and deeper than the first one and that it was lined with oversized symbols, lines, and runes. The second were the copious amounts of broken bones that littered the bottom of it. The made it easy to pick out the oblong dark form that was laying at the far side of the pit. I squinted at it, but I couldn’t make out any other details.
“System? Is that Salasar?” I asked my constant companion.
I BELIEVE SO. IT SEEMS THE FIELD HAS SEVERELY WEAKENED OVER THE MILLENNIA. NOT ENOUGH TO FAIL BUT IT WOULD EVENTUALLY.
“And eventually would be?” I prodded
A FEW CENTURIES GIVE OR TAKE A FEW YEARS. YOU AND SALAZAR, HOWEVER, WOULD BOTH BE DEAD BY THEN. THE DEMON WOLF KING IS CURRENTLY SUFFERING FROM EXTREME MANA DEPRIVATION AND IS SEVERELY WEAKENED. MANA DEPRIVATION IS AKIN TO STARVATION TO A HUMAN. IN SPITE OF THIS, IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR US TO… ‘NEGOTIATE’ WITH THEM.
“You mean I have to fight with them and hope neither of us dies?” I asked, having a good idea of where this was heading.
YOU ARE CORRECT, SAMUEL JACKSON. HOWEVER, I DO HAVE A PLAN. WHEN SOMEONE FIRST ACTIVATES A SKILL, I CAN GIVE THEM GUIDANCE. YOUR ‘DEMON FORM’ WILL BE ESSENTIAL FOR THIS. YOUR TRUST AND COOPERATION WILL BE AS WELL.
“And I suppose my ‘Consume’ skill will be as well?” I asked.
YES. IT WILL REQUIRE TIMING. DO NOT WORRY. THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE SALAZAR WILL SURVIVE THIS. UNLIKE ‘ENDLESS HUNGER’ WHICH ONLY LET YOU ABSORB AN OPPONENT'S POWER AFTER DIGESTING THEM, ‘GLUTTONOUS PRISON’ IS IN FLUX AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GAIN OTHER TRAITS AND ABILITIES. THIS WILL DEPEND UPON YOUR WILL THOUGH. YOUR FATE WILL TEST YOU FOR EACH ONE. YOUR ‘DEFIANT’ SOUL TRAIT WILL AID YOU IN THIS. YOU JUST HAVE TO STRIVE TO PERSEVERE IN SPITE OF WHAT PRESSURES IT MAY PLACE UPON YOU OR TRIALS YOU MUST OVER COME.
“Greeaat…. no pressure. You just got to defy fate! And death!...Why not add an eldritch, world destroying being top of it? Oh, wait. Been there. Done that. Got everything except the damn t-shirt and the fucking kitchen sink!” I muttered sarcastically to myself as I let off some anxiety fueled steam in the form of suppressed frustration and annoyance. The sudden snap may... or may not have made me look a touch crazy but I was used to hiding my emotions. The recent damage to my soul couldn't have helped either.
Either way, the System chose wisely not to comment on it and waited patiently for me to collect myself. After a few more minutes of talking to myself, sighing, and getting a few head pats of my own from Silkie’s feeler legs. I was eventually able to calm and collect myself. Then I made the very mentally questionable decision to check my stats to see just how royally screwed I probably was to push things further.
NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson)
RACE: Human
AGE: 18
SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained)
FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony(hidden)
STATUS: System Champion
STATS:
Level: 0
Health: 60/60
Mana: 120/120
Stamina: 10/10
CP(hidden): 0/0
Strength: 6
Vitality: 6
Endurance: 10
Defense: 3+3(reserved due to low resources)
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 12
Agility: 5+1(reserved due to low resources)
Dexterity: 4+2(reserved due to low resources)
Charisma: 4+2(reserved due to low resources)
Luck: 7
Free Attribute Points: 0
SKILLS: Stealth
AFFLICTIONS: Starvation(suspended/10:00)
BONUSES: None
OTHER:
‘Banked’ Skills and Abilities due to lack of resources:
Mana Poison resistance I, Paralysis resistance I, Mana Essence Reserve (20), Monster Wrangling, Exploration, Mapping, Identify, Analyze
It wasn’t great, but it was better than what I had started out with. However, what really distracted me from my dilemma were all the other things being 'Starved' had kept me from getting. The mana ones in particular intrigued me.
“What’s with this Mana Poison Resistance and Essence Reserve? I don’t remember doing anything to possibly get them.” I asked the system.
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RESISTANCES NORMALLY COME WHEN YOU SUFFER AN AFFLICTION AND ARE ABLE TO RECOVER FROM THEM NATURALLY. THERE IS ALWAYS A SMALL CHANCE THAT YOU MAY AUTOMATICALLY RESIST AN AFFLICTION WITHOUT THE REQUIRED RESISTANCE. IN SUCH CASES, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE THE REQUIRED RESISTANCE. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. THERE IS ALSO HIGH CHANCE TO RECEIVE ANOTHER ABILITY THAT IS RELATED TO THE RESISTANCE GAINED WHEN YOU HAVE GAINED WITHOUT SUFFERING THE AFFLICTION. IN THIS CASE IT IS THE MANA ESSENCE RESERVE. CONSIDERING THAT YOU HAVE BEEN EATING NOTHING BUT MANA BASED VERMIN TO FEND OFF YOUR STARVED STATE, I AM SURPRISED YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN IT SOONER.
AS FOR THE OTHERS, IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING, THEY ARE FAIRLY SELF EXPLANATORY. THEY WERE NOT GIVEN TO YOU AS REWARDS FROM SHARD. YOU EARNED THEM THROUGH YOUR OWN ACTIONS BUT YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THEM DUE TO THE LACK OF RESOURCES.
YOU SHOULD RECIEVE THEM ONCE YOU HAVE EATEN SOMETHING THAT IS MORE THAN JUST CONCENTRATED MANA.
“Um one more question before we get started with whatever you are planning to get me in there without getting stuck. Does luck work retroactively? I’m fairly certain I haven’t suffered enough after getting all this way and that mana stuff seems to be too much of good luck.” I told it.
YOU ARE CORRECT. IF THERE IS A ‘GUARANTEED’ BAD EVENT IN THE NEAR FUTURE THAN YOU WILL RECEIVE BETTER LUCK IN PREPARATION TO ENDURE IT.
UNFORTUNATELY, YOUR LUCK STAT IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO FULLY COVER IT.
“So, expect trouble. Got it. So, what do you need for me to do?” I said as I closed my stat window and went to the door.
YOU WILL NEED THE CHISEL AND ROCK FOR THIS. I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT PARTS YOU NEED TO DAMAGE IN ORDER TO WEAKEN THE FIELD ENOUGH FOR IT TO COLLAPSE IN A TIMELY MANNER. YOU’LL NEED TO BE CAREFUL THOUGH. IF TOO MUCH DAMAGE OCCURS TOO QUICKLY THEN YOU’LL MOST LIKELY ACTIVATE A SECURITY SYSTEM.
“Alright, so slow and steady wins the race. Got it. Give me a sec before we get started.” I told it as I left the room to place Silky outside. I took off my cloak as well to give her a place to hide from the light until I could get back to her.
“Now, you’ve got to listen to me this time Silkie. I can’t have you following me this time because what I am going to be doing next is going to be way too dangerous for a little spider like you. If you got hurt – or worse killed – then I would never be able to forgive myself for getting you into this mess. Let alone letting you follow me in the first place. Besides this is too big for just one little spider to help me with. Not even all the spiders in the cavern would be enough to help me with this to be fair. No, I need to do this alone, and I need you to stay safe even more.” I explained her. I worked with my cloak while I talked to make her a little cloth cave to shelter in away from the lights. When I done, I placed her inside of it.
“Think you can do that for me?” I asked her when I was done talking. I got a sad little churr from her and I gave her a few pets.
“That’s a good girl.” I told her and placed the smallest rat down in front of her to eat while I was gone. I ate another couple myself before heading back into room. I didn’t feel any hitch hikers get on me this time and when I looked back, Silkie was still in the cave where I left her.
“Alright, now that’s taken care of, where I do I start?” I asked system as I retrieved the chisel and rock from my inventory.
The system didn’t say anything but one of the symbols on the wall ‘lit up’ in my sight. I went over to it and started to carefully chip away at it until it started flickering and the system indicator for it disappeared. I then moved onto the next spot and chipped away at that too. And next, and the next in a methodical manner until most of the lines, symbols, and runes in there were flickering and the field had turned a deep, surly red
It was long and tiresome process, but I went through with it and endured. If the system said it would keep me from dying in there after the fight, then I sure as hell had to do it. Still, it took quite a while before I was finished, and I ended up eating most of the rats I had in my inventory as proof of how long it took.
“I take it we’re almost done here?” I asked after I took a step back to look for the next spot and didn’t see it.
YOU ARE CORRECT. THIS NEXT STEP WILL REQUIRE YOU TO COMPLETELY DESTROY THIS SYMBOL. A GOOD, SOLID HIT FROM THE CHISEL AND STONE SHOULD DO IT. IT SHOULD CAUSE A CASCADING FAILURE IN THIS ROOM AS WELL AS TRIGGER ANY POSSIBLE SECURITY THIS PLACE MY HAVE. HOPEFULLY, YOU WILL END UP IN THE CONTAINMENT ROOM WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN.
“And if not?”
THEN YOU WILL NEED A ROPE OR LADDER IN A FEW HOURS. POSSIBLY A RESURRECTION BEFORE THEN AS WELL.
“Great. More good news. Whelp, I better get going. I got a date with Death.” I grumbled as I went over to the indicated spot.
It was one of the ones I had damaged earlier so finishing the job was easy. Once it broke, almost all of the other symbols, runes, and lines fizzled out one after another in a domino like effect. It was really cool but I wasn’t allowed to express my enjoyment of it. The remaining, functional designs that were in there started flashing red the moment everything failed.
Then everything when red for me and I felt myself get thrown somewhere. When the red cleared, I stumbled and suddenly found myself naked. Again. I was also in the middle of the containment pit whose control booth we had been messing with. I had mixed feelings about the whole thing but, before I could sort them out, a growl drew my attention to the black, oblong thing I had noticed in here earlier.
It had gotten up.
It had also resolved itself to be a giant angry wolf the sized of a fucking grey hound bus.
And I was within jumping distance of it.
“Shit.” was I could say about this whole thing before it leapt at me. Probably to say hi with its great many sharp teeth and stomach.
It didn’t get the chance to though as I felt the System trigger the change needed for my demon form to manifest. It happened to quickly for me to process all of the changes that occurred but I felt my hunger soar to the point that I was operating on instinct. I threw out my hands to protect myself and the moment they came into contact with warm, wet flesh; I triggered my skill.
CONSUME
Like the previous times I had used the skill, my mouth opened, and I could feel the space within it expand as the giant wolf was sucked into it. Unlike the other times I had used the skill, with my demon form active, there were more joints in my jaw then there were before, and I felt them pop as my mouth opened far wider than it could ever do when I was human. As for the space within my mouth, although it grew as large as it could, wasn’t enough this time and half of the wolf’s body got funneled down into my expanding throat to help contain it before my mouth snapped shut behind it.
It took several swallows after that to get the wolf the rest of the way into my throat and many more to force it down. A large part of me didn’t want this as much as the wolf and I struggled against the skill to keep it from forcing the unwilling prey down. I was so hungry though and swallows came automatically every time I lost focus.