Chapter One: Howling Winds
Cool spring winds howl throughout the inside of a cave.
Those winds crash upon the dry and gritty walls of caves. Behind those walls channels roar with air and water, created by the accumulation of thousands of tiny little rivers carved into the stone. Carved as time passed. Something else however has left it's mark in this cave. Hidden in the channels is a dark soup. Slimey residue left behind by an entity not belonging to this world. A world of god's and heroes. Not one of lurking horrors and monsters.
Rain being such a rare occurrence in the desert keeps these channels thin. Not strong enough to wash away the residue. So it sticks there hidden and forgotten by even the one who left it behind. But it lives. In a manner of speaking.
But the mountain that cave resides in is the largest around. It's craggy and uneven rocks bright orange and red against the hot sun. These mountains tend to harbor ancient organism, especially the deeper they are. But for some reason the largest one is mostly absent of life. At least in it's only cave.
There only one organism could be considered to live, over the many many years it's resided in the dry hellscape it's not woken up since. Long enough for the cave to form around it and for those inky channels carrying the black waters to form. Long enough to bore even gods. But the primordials who fathered it must be celebrating. For it has awoken.
In it's black egg the human stirs or at least that's what he could have been called. Now he's something else. More akin to the egg of a super organism than any person.
Finally the hard old surface of the egg withdraws itself, revealing a purple see through membrane. Inside that now see through egg is a pale man. However he is still clothed. Adorned with a colorful red and blue stripped shirt, with jeans, and boots.
His shirt reads
Farmers of America
2022
Tendrils dart out of his head, tasting the warming amniotic fluid. they wriggle and writhe, seeming to say "Finally!"
The mans eye's snap open, pale and blind. But they quickly warm with color and flicker around. Taking in the environment. His hands reach out to feel the membrane. It gives only partially under his fingers, but slides his fingers off—like rubber and plastic combined. The tendrils on either side of his suddenly lengthen. Spooling themselves out like whips and lash at the membrane. Instead of breaking the membrane gives into them and tendrils are left tasting the air. It triggers something in the pale man's view
Name Earnest {Bones}
Life Channel
100/100 (0.00000001 Life Bits/ day) Race Dungeon{Variant} Instar Zero{Common} Infrastructure Core, (Pending) Floors 0/10 Minions None Guardians None
Welcome to the Weaver's Web.
> Complete goals to assure basic survival.
>
> Rewards; Gonads, Flagella, and Floor construction.
>
> Goals
>
> *Tunnel out at least 3 Rooms
>
> *Survey local fauna/flora for possible adaptations
>
> *Mark and consume a lifeform
>
> Bonus
>
> *Trap an invader with bait
/Claiming..
»Sensory Adjustment {Eye; R}
»Mutation{Tendril}
»Mobilizing{Nematoda}
/Completed
his abdominal skin stretches. Like someone trying to poke their fingers through it from his insides.
SCHLAWP
It ruptures with a wet sucking sound. Wet and gorey tendrils reaching through and out. His flesh however is still intact, only bleeding a little around the holes. The tendrils grasp onto the cave's walls, dozens of times longer than any of his limbs. They softly lift him off the floor. His arms dangling and dripping blood onto the gritty floor. It sucks the blood up greedily. Dying the floor red underneath him—It's like he's a storm cloud only he's gushing red.
Tendrils not holding him split, wriggling and writhing into the ceiling and walls. Like seeds sprouting a fleshy nightmare around those punctures ropey muscle grows. Latching onto anything it can catch and pulling itself out further. But at the pace it's going it'll take hours to fully supplant his earn's surroundings.
/Structural support...
»False Rib_{Growth Plates, HGH+20%LF Infusion)
»Sternum_{LF40% Infusion, Sub-Lattice, Contaminant Effusion}
»Floating Ribs_{Growth Plates, HGH+20%LF Infusion)
/Completed
A ache in his bones blossom, it's like a heart attack. But then his chest explodes with that same sucking sound. Only instead of those wet tendrils is dry angry bone. Reaching for his surroundings earn's bones jut and jump out of his body. Further and further. Until finally they make contact and dig into the ceiling. Dust and grit falling below them. Or ropey muscle flinging itself onto them and securing them even further.
/Growing Anti-Tamper...
»Bone density_{LF40% Infusion, Sub-Lattice, Contaminant Effusion}
»Exotic Calcium Alloy_{Calcium TriLSC}
/Completed
Beneath the expanding muscle plates of dense bone begin to grow. Seeded by the muscle attached to the interior of the large cave.
/Baking Immune Layer...
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
»Epidermis_{Xenobiotic, Nano HG, LF 30% Infusion, etc...}
»Vascular_{Xenobiotic, Nano HG, LF 30% Infusion, etc...}
»Bone Sheathing_{LF40% Infusion, Sub-Lattice, Contaminant Effusion}
/Completed
Pale soft skin races along the tendrils, creeping itself onto the growing flesh cave's interior. Bright blue veins clearly visible in the pale soft to the touch growing surfaces.
/Chord Generating...
»Structure_{Calcium TriLSC}
»Chord Couple>[Core]
»Ocular Orbits_{Tissue Effusion,
»Sheathing
/Waiting/Suspended For Other Processes...
With a gnarly
CRACK
The man's spine breaks into two, the lower end floating harmlessly in the membrane. But the upper end attached to the brain crunches and grinds as it extends downwards. jutting into the ground. Forming a tube like object. Pale nerves growing from it. Waiting for the interior to finish growing.
> [First Chrysalis generated, Instar updated]
>
> {Zero, Common}, >{One, Uncommon}
>
> >[Options Updated]
>
> >[Biomass core stabilization active]-{30:00:00:00}
>
> Approximate time for core updates to complete 30:00:00:00
>
> Rapture Achieved [1/???]
Actions
{Use Structure}
Dungeon Core
{Evolve, Grow, Trigger Actions, ???.}
{Evolve}= Floor [1], Life Force [60],
{Grow/Customize Core}= [1LF/Cubic Inch]
{Trigger Actions}= [Dependent]
Chord
{Tunnel, Couple, Generate Room, Move Core, Generate Architecture.}
{Tunnel Hallways} [1LF/Foot]
{Generate Room From Hallway} [1LF/Cubic Ft]
{Move Core From Room} [Uses 1/1]
{Generate Architecture From Room} [.5LF/Cubic Ft]
{Generate Structure}
-(Current Structure Genomes)
Floor Node [50LF]
Current Maximum
{10 Rooms}
These are needed to claim a floor and to automate certain tasks, they also passively generate lifeforce.
Root 10LF
Current Maximum
{Floor}
These are Needed to process any kills or deaths that occur in claimed territory.
Chord 40LF
Current Maximum
{Floor}
Chords function as workhorses of the dungeon, they also function as nerve and growth plates. Without a chord a dungeon is stuck at the very first steps of its life.
Director Node 20LF
Current Maximum
{Three Rooms}
Nodes direct and stabilize minions; without a node to control them the core is incapable of manipulating their minions.
??? [Unlock With Evolutions and System rewards]
The man doesn't speak, merely hanging within his egg in silent discomfort. His skin feeling cooled by the cave's air. Of course it's just his spine's nerves exposed to the open air. Like a painless burn.
He barely reacts to the situation, seemingly disconnected. He blinks his eyes slowly trying to remove the dry feeling in them.
Indeed now that the process has finished, he's looking for something to occupy him. He doesn't want to risk messing with the menus.
Hours pass by in what seems like seconds to the man. He quietly burns time thinking in his own head. He hopes his goats can survive without him. In the same way he hopes his fields can spread themselves. It's unlikely. Which is why it puts a lead weight in his gut. His animals he raised from birth are vulnerable. Earrny and Barmy will probably be the first to die. They were always too risky for their own sakes.
But a new sensation attacks his mind. The large cave has long since finished growing, a new cyst like pit is what draws his attention in the area. Inside the pit is a swirling shadow. Like a child kicking in the womb.
/Childe Generating...
»Temporary reproductive follicle
»Host Genome sequencing
Trait [Trapping] selected
»instincts imprinted
/Engaging naivety...
With a sharp cry and a deluge of amniotic fluids a creature is born. It's limbs shake in the relatively violent cold air. It's the size of a child, with a emanicated look about it. Almost instantly earn's usually stern and cold heart seizes with thunger.
It's gasp and cries like that of a baby bird crying for food. But there is no free lunch within a dungeon. The creatures usually go hungry. Not that in normal dungeon they need the food. In the average dungeon the creatures are composed of crystalline cores and pure life force. Here in this newly born dungeon however they're fleshy and life like beings.
The product of their creation from the hands of a abyssal instead of a god.
This one in particular is so thin it looks like it could die from a good shake. And it could, at least right now.
It's a face like a pale nightmare, something even a mother couldn't love. But where a mother's love fails earn's love triumphs.
"Hello? Screens? How do I feed him."
/Processing
»Question detected
»Host intentions sensed
/Deploying warning...
Warning!
Additional nutrient intake could cost core precious Life Bits.
Recommendation, allow passive intake through air.
/Processing...
»Host continuation detected
/Deploying Tutorial...
1. Extrude tendrils for Childe (Contract modified mammalian glands)
2. Allow organism to engage it's feeding apparatus
3 Induce lactation
4 Allow organism to process nutrient intake
Earnest Bones has never in his life been more horrified than now. With his body contorted into something beyond human and mind breaking to lesser men than himself. But he's nothing if not cold. Indifferent to the mutilation and evolution of his body.
He's got bigger things on his mind after all.
Like feeding his newborn child.
The sensation of what he does next can't be accurately described. But in simple terms it's like he's attached his nipples to his arms.
Thin transparent tentacles Slorp out of the fleshy walls. Slithering through the air to the pale creature. Cradling itself in a fetal position and shivering. They softly bump it's face and the creature turns toward them. Seemingly astounded that it's parent would even bother taking care of it.
Dungeons after all are not known for their compassion. Especially, according to the creature's instincts, not ones from the abyss. But within the genome of the child like creature is a burning feeling. It lights up it's body and it's shivers disappear. Instead it lurches off the ground to latch it's odd insect like mouth around the tentacles. Sucking until fluid shining with a silver luster pours down it's throat.
Like ambrosia of the gods. The taste is something between butter milk and coconut. Relaxing it's form back onto the ground the child fills itself to the brim. Stomach bulging. It's eyes close in sleepy peace.
Earn pulls the tubes back into the walls, not entirely sure how to feel. His usually unflappable demeanor is compromised as his human face cringes. How did this happen to him?
More importantly he's sure he can feel the presence of his kid in his mind. Like a firefly lazily wondering around his head. It's such a delicate spark. He could reach out a hand and crush it easily. But in between it's lazy spirals it emanates a type of warmth. It's a warmth Earn's been chasing his whole life. Something his absent mother couldn't give him and something his evil father actively deprived him of.
His situation is grotesque, but that's all it is. And what part of his life hasn't been?