Seeing as how Jack was now truly just lost in this place, he figured it would cause no fault in anyone if he just sat down and thought about his options here. Seeing as that he had 4 stat points available to him jack had much to think about for his build, he had been leveling quickly that was either do to the fact that these monsters were above his tier and truly a threat to him or that levels were just easy to acquire in general. Though he doubted that, it would make sense that jack being how he was had made a rookie mistake in trying to help here, sure he thought it could be something like one of those kids again after all they weren’t part of this fucked up place, but he would have to be more careful with his actions going forward. This included his build; sure, he wasn’t a gamer by many of his friends’ aspects, but he had sat in on one of there dungeons and dragons game sessions and there was many familiarities at least in how one should build up their characters.

Thinking back on his friends chats about building a character you had to generally focus on what would be your strength while making sure that you weren’t leaving yourself super vulnerable. Thinking back to his past fights he relied on his agility to carry him, it seemed almost foolish to not increase his agility. A fast and agile person would be best for him and the direction he was facing making that only natural for Jack to also place his points into Dexterity he could experiment later what Intelligence and wisdom were used for but he needed survivability now that he could truly count on and their benefits.

Not needing any other coaxing from himself Jack placed 2 points into both Dexterity and Agility bring both totals to 12 and 12.

Feeling his body writhe in pain he gave into it, Though he had to say the pain wasn’t nearly as bad the first time, maybe this was something to do with this system? Or just his body was slowly growing accustomed to the pain. It could really be for any reason and Jack would be happy with the fact that as time goes on it might even just disappear.

Getting up off the floor Jack surveyed his surroundings looking into the distance he still couldn’t see far in the haze that covered this dungeon. His main option was to either return the way he came or to continue in this new direction, glancing up at the ceiling jack noticed that he was somewhat close to one of the catwalks on the wall above and to the right of him. That didn’t mean he was near an exit only that one of the walls was closer on his right then it was on the other. Deciding that it was best to carry on to the right and see where it went, as now he was faster and had a general idea of at least of what two different kinds of monsters he could run into in this place. “Mental note no more running towards cries of help…. Shit I can’t do that its my job as security I will always have to investigate damn you dungeon for playing me like a fool!” Jack Cursed as he continued scanning the shelves and hallway for anything that didn’t fit or stood out to his senses.

After several turns making sure to keep taking right turns little that did him if another one of those horrors showed up and decided to change the paths all over again but until then it should help keep him on the path. Jack had briefly though of why not just climbing up or through one of the shelves to make his way out of this place but when he first attempted to do just that a wave of dread and foreboding washed over him. Feeling like that would be a very stupid idea to even attempt to break the ‘rules’ of this place forcing him to burry his discontent at not being able to just take the easy route out as something truly bad will come for him.

Jack was making his way back after hitting a dead end when he ended up taking the next right, just as he was making this turn jacks eyes locked on to a pallet nearly 30 feet away from himself this pallet looked to be fairly hidden in its spot, but he could see the statues as clear as day. They were well hidden and if he had been a less observant man he would have walked right on by and possibly close enough to get nabbed as he wasn’t looking at them. Checking to make sure Jack had a round in the chamber jack flipped off the safety and was about to pull the trigger before a thought crossed his mind. He had an inspection skill, why not try, and use the inspection skill on these creatures to see if it levels up or even gives him more information anything really would be nice even knowing if it was just a passive or could be pushed to become an active skill if used. Focusing on the skill itself Jack tried to analyze the statues from afar when that didn’t work, he tried forcing the skill to actively search the area. That seemed to be working so he kept at it until he felt a slight wave of mental exhaustion at using the skill, like he had spent the last one trying to read and retain some boring dry literature that he needed to understand. The exhaustion went away slowly but seeing that only two of the 4 statues had been flagged instead of the natural glow that the TV had given off this statue was giving off a reddish black tinged hue around itself. Seeing as the skill was pointing out that two of these statues were indeed monsters that would await their prey to just wander on by jack aimed and fired two rounds making quick work as the two statues fell back leaving behind gaping wounds full of more of that whitish liquid that seemed to permeate the monsters.

Taking a second to scan and make sure his surroundings were clear Jack quickly reloaded the gun as he flung the safety back on and moved forward. This time it only took two more turns before jack found something different then what had become his new normal of shelves and shelves of all manner of things. But now right in front of him was an intersection of four separate cardinal directions including his own that he was standing in. This one was a little more than just that however there was a small cubical like desk inside and what looked like to be some kind of floor manager space. Not trusting anything Jack pushed his senses out again to see if anything stood out within the office space, just as he started scanning, he got a hit on the small lunch box cooler at his feet this one had a slightly neutral glow coming off it hopefully listing it as a non hostile enemy.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Taking one last look around to make sure he was clear Jack moved in quickly as he sat down in the office chair and positioned himself against one of the cubical walls while facing outwards to see if anything approached his position while he opened this cooler. As Jack looked over the cooler it looked like it was one of those classic ones from the 90’s the ones that he remembered seeing his father carry out on his way to work. It was blue and white with the brand name smudged off from use. Prying the lid open Jack peered inside to inspect what had caused his skill to ping off something so simple as a lunch box. Opening it up jack only found some water and a wrapped-up sandwich. Confused at it being something so normal it made him wary even if there was no indication that it would have a negative effect on him.

Taking the water out first he opened the bottle and sniffed inside smelling nothing untoward jack proceeded to have a sip tasting only water, but it was probably the freshest water jack had ever had in his life. Thinking he should bring some of it back to make a coffee with almost made him do just that, though since he was both getting hungry and thirsty, he felt that wouldn’t be a wise course of action. It was best for him to just drink the water now as any boost would be a good boost. Before he drained all the water Jack took a small bite out of what ended up being a homemade ham and cheese sandwich on homemade bread. It felt like he was a kid again when his mother would yell at him in the yard that his lunch was ready only to run inside half dirty before having to clean up and get at least some of the dirt off himself before eating dinner. His mother had been a lovely cook she had always made everything from scratch as she said made everything taste so much better and jack honestly couldn’t disagree. Popping back out of his memories jack looked down to see that all that was left were crumbs and the water had all been drained as well. “If this place has more food like that, I feel I could brave a 100 weeping angles, especially if it brings back good memories like those…” Jack trailed off trying not to dredge up bad memories from his past.

Groaning Jack pulled himself up to his full height brushing off the crumbs that littered his uniform onto the ground. With one last check of his surroundings Jack headed over to look at the three other directions he had left right and front of his position of entry. Seeing as there was no indication of which direction would be best to take Jack found himself pulled back to the strategy at hand just keep going right eventually, I will find my way out of this place.

Heading down the corridor Jack looked around it seemed that there was a bit more of a run-down esthetic of this place as if he were heading into a older or unused part of the warehouse. Rust was showing on most or all the shelves along with the sight of what looked like to be fading colors as if all the natural order of this place was corroding around itself. Just as Jack turned left as that was the only direction to turn, he found himself faced with a huge open space, it looked like a landfill was parked right inside the center of this space. He could see piles and piles of what looked like junk several stories high, as if everything in the storage facility had been slowly piled high to decompose and rot in place. The natural fog of this place was heavier here as jack couldn’t make out much beside a slight slurping sound. It was faint but could be heard from his position which made Jack hide behind a rack of stuffed dolls that had their threads bare and slowly falling out, seeing as the dolls had no eyes as fit to stare lifelessly off into the void it was a little disconcerting on this fact.

Staying crouched behind this barrier of sorts Jack waited as the sound got closer and closer until he saw it and honestly, he wished he hadn’t. This monster looked like it was a see through back of flesh and veins it pulsated with a sickly dark flesh that looked almost to be rotting off from the creature. It wasn’t fast in its movements, but it was long acting more like a fat centipede and a slug had mated into some kind of flesh amalgamation. Though instead of legs it had these undulating tentacles that writhed and flailed about as it slithered along leaving behind a black and reddish sludge that seemed to smoke and it burned through objects in its way. From the looks of it couldn’t see very well as it kept bumping into all things as it passed in this hell that it belonged to. Seeing as he had little no option it was unlikely that he was going to try and fight this thing. He could be stupid and forgetful at times but this thing he new would kill him no matter how many rounds he put into it. It was best for him to make it through, sure he could turn around and it may be best in the long run then deal with this creature but there was always a chance that every other path would lead to the same place or its own shitty situation. It was best if Jack hunkered down and watched to see how it acted and reacted to certain aspects. As the creature disappeared back into the fog it was his time to think and come up with a plan. Was it really time for Jack to face such a creature? It did seem rather slow and in competent at any sense of direction or maybe it was more like a bat and had rather good hearing instead of sight. That was going to be his first test if he decided to go through with this, so Jack sat down and would think this over a bit till the creature made its circuit known to him if it was a circuit at all.