I stopped and carved another arrow into the ground whenever I got far enough away from being able to see the other one. I felt that it was an excellent method to track my progress. However, after more than a half-dozen, I was still moving to what I thought was deeper in the lakebed. I was starting to feel anxious.

It was just before I was about to turn around that I began to see an outline through the mist. I appeared to be a large object protruding from the ground. At first, I thought it seemed to be a dome, and I assumed it was a large rock. Yet when I moved closer, I could see that the top was sheared off.

As I continued to walk closer, more details came into focus. I walked a wide circle around the object to better understand what it was. I didn’t think being too cautious was possible inside the dungeon. I made marks to indicate my direction and then slowly started walking again.

The details I could make out made it look more like a cylinder than a dome. From far away, it looked as if it had extensive water damage. I thought it weird since the area was so dry, yet there it was with large fissures appearing to run vertically from top to bottom. At the base, whatever was sheared from the top appeared on the ground at different points. Without getting any closer, I couldn’t be sure.

When I completed the large circle around the object, and nothing of note happened, I chose to go closer. Being cautious was smart, but I needed to discover an exit, so avoiding danger was impossible. The closer I was to the object, the more details I could make out. Before long, I was able to tell what it really was.

I could see that it wasn’t a rock. It was actually a tree, or at least the stump of a tree. What I thought were rocks on the bottom were just the roots digging into the dirt.

The stump was a good fifteen feet in diameter with thick bark that I thought were water trails. I had half a mind to climb up on top to better look at the area or at least find out how old the tree was before it was cut down. I didn’t even have time to consider how it was cut down before the ground started to shake.

I stopped walking forward to keep from falling just as an enormous tentacle burst from the ground right where I would have been. The appendage rose ten feet in the air and started falling in my direction. I dodged to the side. I was about to start running, but the force of the tentacle striking the ground shook the floor beneath me, and I stumbled.

I hit the ground, and just as I did, the rough surface of the tentacle slammed into me. It was as rough as the bark of a tree, and that was when I realized it wasn’t a tentacle. It was a root of the stump. Somehow it was alive.

I slid along the ground from the hit and rolled a few more feet after sliding. The world was pulsing in and out of darkness as I dealt with the pain. I could see the root rise straight into the sky from the edge of my vision. Like a falling tree, it tipped in my direction.

There was nothing I could do but watch as it fell. My body didn’t listen to my pleas to move. With mere inches to spare, the root slammed down onto the ground. I was just outside of its range of attack. The force of the root flung me a foot into the air, and I slammed back down. The little air I had left ran from my body, and the darkness around my vision pulsed again.

I managed to turn and roll away from the area in case the roots managed to grow longer and hit me. Just as I feared they might, they again missed me by inches the second time the roots fell. I was on my stomach as it fell, and the repercussion flew me to fly into the air and slam down. Pain shot through my chest, but it cleared my head for some reason. I scrambled up and stumbled further away.

When I felt I was in a safe area, I turned and watched as the root rose and fell again, but I was far enough away that I wasn’t worried. Somehow sensing that I wasn’t in the area, the root slithered into its hole and didn’t come back up.

I stood there thinking of what to do next. I was hurt, dirty, and exhausted from barely doing anything. I hoped the creature wasn’t what I had to defeat to get out of the dungeon because if it was, I thought I would die there. Then I realized that I no longer had my staff.

“Like I don’t have enough problems,” I said aloud.

I looked around for it, moving slowly. It took me a minute to find it because I didn’t recognize it. I was looking for a straight staff, but I finally saw a piece of metal in the shape of a U.

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“No,” I growled, low and long. The root must have fallen on it during one of its attacks.

The lack of a weapon wasn’t something that I needed right then. It was just another problem that I had no solution for. I wanted to rage forward and attack the stupid stump, but I knew the folly of that action.

So, all I could do was clench my fist and hold on to my injured ribs. Without a plan or weapon, I turned and walked back out of the lake. I needed to rest before anything else. Before that, I had to find a safe place.

With my body in pain and my head still swimming, the best place I could think of was back at the dry creek with my back against the fog wall.

I sat down hard on the ground when I reached the spot and crossed my legs. I decided that while I rested, I would try to get some cultivation in. The dungeons were high in De concentration and cultivation channeled that De. I hoped that it would be easier in there than out.

I also realized that I was still in Symbiotic Mode. When I fought the Brownie-Spider, I remembered that after I changed modes, I was prompted to absorb the ambient De in the area. If the De concentration inside the dungeon was much more robust, then absorption and my compatibility should increase faster than outside.

“Companion Mode,” I stated. I was glad I changed modes because I hadn’t realized how much my eyes needed some new air. There wasn’t a breeze inside the dungeon, but air rushed in when the seal was broken, and it felt like pure pleasure.

I hoped there would be some type of prompt, but nothing changed. I didn’t defeat any monster, at least not in that area. Even if it wasn’t absorbing more De, I decided to keep it in Companion Mode while I rested.

I wanted to just sit there and relax for a few minutes, but I knew that if I did that, I would probably start stressing out about my situation. Therefore, I got into the seated position the cultivation instructor taught me and started the breathing exercises. I was surprised to immediately be able to feel the difference.

The only way I could think of putting it was that the air felt thicker. As I was breathing, it didn’t feel harder to breathe, but I felt like I was just pulling more…more De, I guessed. I quickly put it out of my head and focused on the breathing pattern I was taught.

Slowly my mind cleared, and my thoughts drifted at the same time. My mind felt lighter, and my body felt more connected to the ground. I could sense the energies around me and almost see them inside my head.

The world was like a swirling blue void, how I would expect wind patterns to look if they were visible. I sunk further into the sensation as I studied and accepted that I could only observe. My awareness expanded at that moment, and I could feel even more energy.

In the distance, I felt like there were multiple condensed energy spots. The spots were coming from two different directions. I focused on the place that felt closer. It was a large bundle of energy that was stationary. Although, I could also feel tendrils of energy flowing beneath it. I knew that this was the Tree Trunctopus that I had fled from.

I took a few moments to study its energy and how it moved. Even the tendril below it didn’t move much, or at least they didn’t move quickly. Yet I did notice that they were always searching, especially at the edge of their boundary.

I lost track of time watching the tendrils, but eventually, I switched focus to the other point of energy. The energy didn’t feel weaker than the first. It was just further away. As my mind flew through whatever space it was in while I was focusing, I soon realized that the energy wasn’t one source. It wasn’t even two sources, but there were two significant sources in the middle of the group.

I had no idea what the two more prominent energy sources were, but I felt that the many smaller points were the Tree Urchins. I watched them like the Tree Tunctopus; the smaller points moved in unison. It dawned on me that they probably had some type of hive mind. They always moved in the same direction and kept an eerily consistent distance. With no wind or water currents to help them move like that, I didn’t think there were any other explanations.

As I continued cultivating, I couldn’t sense any other areas with De energy within the dungeon. Either I wasn’t powerful enough to sense it, or it didn’t exist. It seemed more likely that nothing else existed, which narrowed my decision on avenues to take in clearing the dungeon.

I slowly came back to myself as I exited the cultivation. I honestly felt amazing. My body was still sore, but most of my previous aches and pains were gone. I checked the puncture wound on my back and found it was already scabbed. I thought cultivating De energy might have helped me recover from injury, but I wasn’t sure until then.

The morning after I fought with the Brownie-Spider, I felt terrific walking down the hill. I thought I had just slept well. Cultivating the night prior must have helped heal my body even though I couldn’t see the difference in my status.

That made me realize that I hadn’t tried to look at my status. I thought about it but decided to forgo looking. I didn’t know I would find anything to help since I couldn’t access CoreLink.

I took some more time to recover, eat, and plan. I had an inkling of an idea of how I could get myself out of the mess I was in, but I needed some more information. I also needed a new spear. I wouldn’t be able to make one near as good as my other. But if I could find a good enough stick, I could at least give it a point, which was one thing my last spear no longer had.

I spent about an hour looking around for a solid replacement. It was difficult in the area since most of the vegetation was dead. However, that made it easier after I found one. It was already dry and solid enough to take some hits. I used my knife to chip away at the edges and then used a rock to round it off. I thought about rigging my knife to the end, but I didn’t have the tools to make it solid enough to be viable.

Once I was finished eating and taking care of myself, I set off.