I finally got the grasp on walking. It isn’t so hard once you learn the trick.
And for some reason I feel lame saying it.
Ahem.
First things first. Let’s make a list of the things I know.
I know how to walk. And how to think.
…
And that’s… pretty much it, yeah.
On the other hand, we have the things I don’t know.
I don’t know who I am. Or what I am, on that matter. I don’t know what I’m doing here, or where here is. And I don’t know how to get out.
I do know we want to get out, however.
Somehow, I feel a connection with this place. It’s a feeling of… belonging, maybe? And there’s hatred mixed in with it. For some reason, I seem to hate this place.
Not that I really care about that anymore.
I mean, I am aware of those feelings. It’s just that I don’t… don’t feel them? That would be the best way to describe it.
But back to the point.
I want to get out from here. Wherever it is.
First, I have to explore the place. Carefully. It’s dangerous here. I can feel it. It’s… a knowledge I was born with, if you like.
Let’s take a look around…
Where I am seems to be some sort of cave. Walls and floor of stone, a strange pale green stone that somehow looks not entirely natural. The walls stretch out five times myself with my arms spread out one from the other. They are so big that I can’t see the ceiling of the cave. Chunks of luminescent crystal here and there, making for the only light source in this place.
I can only walk forward. I won’t go back to where I came from, that would be stupid. I’ve been walking since hours now, so it would be a waste of time. I don’t feel tired… In fact, I know what the word means, but, like hate, I just don’t picture myself being able to feel any of that.
But you never know. It’s better to just keep walking.
I found something.
Two hours since the last time, I kept walking and walking until I found this.
It’s a corpse. One of my brothers. He’s different from me, but I can sense he and I were born the same. Bound to this place, to Mother.
His link isn’t gone yet. And it won’t be. Mother will take him in again before it’s too late.
I crouch to observe the corpse. It’s a neat trick I learned while walking. Crouching is basically a combination of sitting and standing at the same time. Sitting is…
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Forget it. Back to the corpse.
It has a big body. Maybe taller than me. Much more muscular, if not stronger. Snow white fur, stained in the red of its own blood. Four legs, with knees that bend backwards. Azure blue claws at the end. It has a feline head, with spiky tooth made to rip flesh and blue eyes that lost their gleam. The tail also ends in a pompon of soft blue hair.
The cause of dead, I presume it was the large chunk of missing flesh in the side. White ribs poking out of the skin, guts sprawled all over and making the air stink.
I don’t want to smell it. I’ll turn down my sense of smell…
There. Much better.
My brother’s corpse doesn’t inspire much confidence in me. If Mother hasn’t taken him yet that means he died very recently, maybe half a day ago, maybe less. Whatever that did this to him, I don’t want it to do it to me.
But wasting its corpse would be a shame…
I’ll take what I find useful and leave the rest to mother.
Right now, that would be the bones. I have no way to rip the claws and tooth properly. The bones, however, I could use. Maybe as an improvised short lance or something like it.
I wouldn’t like to use my own bones for that, anyways.
I took one of the bloodied ribs with both hands, then putting my foot between them and applying some force, they broke with a sick crack.
I enjoyed the sound, somehow.
Performing an act according to your racial traits unlocks a new skill: Bonepiler: Allows basic bone manipulation. (Rank D)
This took me by surprise. It's okay, though. I know this thing. It's not a friend, but it's also not an enemy. Just a bystander.
It made me remember, however. I should look at my status. I know how to look at it, that's also a knowledge I was born with.
Level 1 Arch-Skeleton Stats --- Body: 200 Vitals: Mind: 300 Health: 500/500 Will: 1000/1000 Stamina: 500 Soul: 1000 ---
Skills:
Undead Aura (D)
Hunger and tiredness don't affect you. Stamina stat is fixed on its max value. Suppresses emotions and render mental and most illusory attacks useless. Allows accelerated information processing. Synthesizes food into health. Reads mana signals and translates them into sensory information.
Ethereal Vision (E)
Allows to see mana sources and strong flow of mana. Renders most illusory attacks useless.
Bonepiler (D)
Allows basic bone manipulation.
Hmmm... It was alright. Not too strong, but not excessively weak either. The only developed thing in my status was the Soul stat, which translates into ability to manipulate your will. It relates to magic ability as well, as magic is the ability to push mana around with your will and making it form spells.
I have to brace myself, however. With this level of stats, I won't even scratch my bigger, violent brothers around. And I know this is just one little part of Mother. Who knows whether I will have to delve deeper in her before I exit this place...
For now, I should prepare. I will use my bonepiler skill to get something useful out of my brother's corpse, and after that I should be very careful with my next steps.
After all, you never know what you can run into when you're inside a dungeon.