Mark Dallton, who, generally speaking, would name himself a sane individual, wondered if he’d finally snapped. Around him was stone, cold air biting into his frame, and more stone. He had no idea how he got here, a sharp pinch dispelled the notion that this was a dream, and wondered if he’d snapped again.
‘Can’t feel pain in a dream.’ He assured himself. ‘And who lucid dreams and decides a cave is the best place to be anyway? Crazy people, that’s who.’
He snorted, decided he’d definitely gone crazy if that passed for humor, and his mind chanted what he’d once heard on tv.
Water, shelter, food.
Mark slapped his thigh, took out his phone, and dialed nine one one instead. That turned out to be useless, seeing as no connection was established, so he walked out of the cave and looked around.
“Jesus fuck.” He sighed, sounding more tired than afraid. “Where, exactly, am I?”
The exit to the cave turned out to be halfway into a cliff, a daunting distance stretching to the ground, and he took a step back to look upwards. Same thing, maybe even further, but this time he took another two steps back when something dropped down.
‘A rabbit?’
It bounced up, snarled with decidedly not rabbit teeth, and lunged. Mark’s caveman brain decided that would be a bad thing to let happen, flailed, and fell on his ass. The rabbit overshot, sailing over his head, and his hand closed around a stone. He’d climbed to his feet before his conscious mind caught up with him, kicking the thing as hard as he could.
The rabbit impacted the wall with a crunch, sagging down but surprisingly not dead. Mark slammed the stone down on it, once then twice, before backing off.
“What in the fuck.” He dropped the stone, looking at his blood covered hands. “What in the actual fuck.”
The rabbit didn’t get up, his hands and part of his pants were smeared red, and he looked to the cave exit to find something blocking his vision.
Congratulations, you have been saved. Rejoice!
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 1 Class skills: None General Skills: None Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive.
“Oh.” Mark sighed again, even more tired than before. “No thank you.”
The text didn’t budge, he had absolutely no interest to interact with it, and saying the word status out loud would just affirm his insanity. He sat, letting his feet dangle over the cliff after checking no more bunnies would drop from above, and enjoyed the sun on his face.
‘This is stupid. Should be looking for water, make sure this cave is empty. Scout deeper, find another exit.’
He couldn't summon the energy to stand, let alone explore, so he kept sitting. Half an hour passed, according to his watch, until the stone digging into his leg was more annoying than standing. It took him another five minutes to convince himself of that, walking over to the rabbit and using its fur to clean his hands.
It didn’t work great, more smearing it out than removing it, so he gave up and walked deeper into the cave. He took out his phone when it got dark, made a mental note to conserve battery, and flicked on his flashlight. With a lightsource he found the cave roughly maintained its size, the floor surprisingly easy to walk across.
He walked, got lost almost immediately when the path branched, and found himself back to the dead rabbit after a few hours of aimless wandering. His battery had fallen to below thirty percent, his thirst was getting prominent enough he considered licking the damp walls, and the rabbit looked as dead as it did before.
Mark considered himself in decent shape. Sure, he liked food more than was socially acceptable, but fat didn’t mean weak. He’d taken up walking, his job was pretty physically demanding and he’d lost a fair amount of weight recently. ‘Although that gym membership has been gathering dust for god knows how long.’
He sat again, letting his sore feet rest, and admired the view. ‘And being fat is actually a good thing. More calories to survive on. Same with little upper body strength. Less muscle means less calorie consumption.’
But he’d been fat for a reason, and as another hour passed that rabbit was looking more appetizing than it should have. Mark shook his head, drank from a small puddle, and got back to it.
Left, right, left and left again. He used a key to scratch the walls, starting to turn his phone’s flashlight on in short bursts. The battery still drained alarmingly quickly, dropping down to ten percent when he finally decided to turn back. He turned the phone off completely when he could see by natural light again, looking at the dead rabbit.
The definitely not a status still floated in his vision, easy enough to ignore in the dark but starting to get annoying. ‘Ah fuck it. If it lasts this long it won’t just go away on its own.’
“Status.”
It winked out, Mark wondering if he’d just given in to his own madness, then shrugged and said it again. It reappeared, showing nothing new, and he made it vanish. ‘Right, nothing strange about that. Now let’s eat raw rabbit and hope not to get every disease known to man.’
His mood took a sharp turn downwards, walking to the rabbit and using another key to carve out a chunk of meat. He’d worked with plenty of meat before, even eaten some raw dishes, but this was altogether different. He knew where it came from, for one, and that wasn’t as great as some people made it out to be.
Hunger won out, especially after having skipped breakfast, and he popped it into his mouth. The taste was about what he expected, disgusting mixed with an awful texture, but the feeling wasn’t.
It felt good. Better than anything he’d felt for months now. His status pinged, he didn’t check, and he picked the corpse from the ground. He wasn’t quite so far gone as to take a bite out of it, but he did take it some distance away. The key served well enough, letting him separate the mangled fur from the meat, and he ate without thinking too deeply about it. The taste didn’t improve, the texture was plain wrong, but he kept eating.
Eating had always been his stress reliever. Something to do with a morphine release in the stomach, he hadn’t looked into it too deeply, but he knew what he was. Some smoked, drank to excess or did drugs. He ate.
A smile formed on his lips as he took in the sun from some twenty feet into the cave, far enough no bunnies could ambush him. He focussed on his status, deciding it had waited long enough, to find a slew of messages.
Macrodontia Rabbit consumed. Sight, hearing and smell have been improved with Minor Sense Boost.
Minor Sense Boost will be active for five minutes.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has alre-
“Status.”
The slew of messages disappeared, saying the same thing another half a dozen or so times. Mark frowned, moving to the one exit he knew of. His footsteps didn’t sound any louder, and his smell seemed the same as ever. He looked out to the vast mountain range, steep cliffs and deep drops dominating the landscape. Twilight had fallen, yet his eyesight seemed strangely unaffected. He even caught something that looked like a deer prance away, far enough he should not have been able to see.
‘Timer?’
“Status.”
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 1 Class skills: None General Skills: None Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive. Buffs:
Minor Sense Boost (Macrodontia Rabbit): 4:12
Mark scrambled deeper into the cave, picking up the rabbit and hoping there was enough meat on there to activate another boost. Hallucinating words and statuses was fine, he’d gone insane, but they didn’t tend to give him eagle eyes.
His luck held, the consuming darkness now parting to let him see vague outlines. It was his nose that helped the most, he found, as he followed the cleaner air without having to feel for the scratches he’d left.
“Status!”
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 1 Class skills: None General Skills: None Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive. Buffs:
Minor Sense Boost (Macrodontia Rabbit): 1:45
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He cursed, muttering status again to make it go away. “Buffs!”
Buffs: Minor Sense Boost (Macrodontia Rabbit): 1:43
Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he moved as fast as he dared. Another right turn, half falling down a gentle slope, and a right turn. If the light levels increased he couldn't be sure, muttering again.
Buffs: Minor Sense Boost (Macrodontia Rabbit): 0:15
He brought up the rabbit, abandoning the pretense of civility and scraping up what meat he could find with his teeth. No new messages came, Mark responded with more cursing, and he broke bone to let his teeth dig deeper.
Warning: Minor Sense Boost has already been activated, timer reset.
Relieve, coupled with addicting euphoria, washed through him. He slowed, just a little, and clutched the corpse close. More sharp turns, twisting pathways where he could do nothing but trust his nose to find the way out again. Leaving himself messages or arrows would take too long, and judging by how little meat there was left he’d only get another boost out of this corpse if he sucked out the marrow.
‘If that even works.’
He shook the thought away, ignoring his aching foot and complaining legs. He corrected his footing so he didn’t stumble over a rock, blinking to find he could see it. A grin took over his face, another turn making his eyes more useful yet again. “Buffs!”
Buffs: Minor Sense Boost (Macrodontia Rabbit): 0:49
“Fuck.” He took the rabbit, a mangled hunk of flesh more than an animal, and set to find what meat he could. Sucking out the marrow would have made him wince, churn his stomach, if the blessed message hadn’t popped up again.
Warning: Macrodontia Rabbit has expired.
‘What?’ He wiped blood away from his watch, seeing it was nearly eight in the evening. ‘Three hours? From when I killed the rabbit, or ate from it?’
The latter would be seven hours or so, seeing as he’d killed it soon after waking up here, but the former would be equal parts better and worse. ‘Less time, but I can decide when it starts.’
He climbed a wall, more heaving himself up than any true ascend, and finally found the source of light. Mark feared it would have turned out to be an impossibly high crack, maybe a mostly caved-in entrance that he’d have to dig out. Instead it was open as could be, darkness seeming to fall near instantly as he stepped outside. “Buffs!”
Buffs: None
“Status!”
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 1 Class skills: None General Skills: None Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive. Buffs:
None
“At least I got out of the cave.” He smiled, a sense of victory almost as satisfying as eating that rabbit filling him. Then it dropped, whipping around to find an actual boar stalking up to him. Mark blinked. ‘Boars, on mountains?’
It charged, his caveman brain taking over again. He flung the rabbit’s corpse at it, diving to the side much too early, and saw the fur bounce off its head. It didn’t seem to mind, correcting its charge to trample him over. ‘Or gore me.’
Mark whipped his head around, seeing if there was anything he could use, and found a rock. Bigger, needing both hands to lift. He pushed himself over, his hands clasping it when pain laced his back.
The boar couldn't stop by ramming him, overshooting and coming to a halt some distance away. It’d still left two deep grooves on his back, horrid pain filling his mind as he thrashed. Anger came, enough so he managed to stand, but the boar charged again before he could decide on much of anything.
The stone went high, cracking on its skull at the same time it rammed into his lower stomach. More pain, falling and bringing the stone up. It wasn’t fast enough in getting away, hopefully stunned by his first blow, so he brought it down again.
Four more times he smashed, the last two with a standing position. It stilled, blood seeping out of a caved-in skull, and Mark collapsed.
Looking down revealed two puncture marks in his stomach, skin parting to reveal fat and blood. “At least it didn’t get anything important.”
His back was pressing painfully on the ground, lifting his arms was becoming harder by the second, and he realized that meant absolutely fuck all if he bled to death.
His stomach was gushing blood like a river, his hands not doing much to stem the flow. Panic should have taken over, fear of death and oblivion, but instead Mark just felt tired. He dragged himself over to the corpse, using his sharpest key to gauge out a chunk of belly meat, and prayed for something useful.
For killing a Star Boar you have been granted twenty experience.
Gluttony has increased to level two, new skills available.
General Skills have gained twenty experience. No General Skills found. New options available.
Star Boar consumed. Natural healing has been improved with Minor Regeneration.
Minor Regeneration will be active for thirty seconds.
The euphoria made the pain more manageable, at least, and Mark blinked. “Buffs?”
Buffs:
Minor Regeneration (Star Boar): 0:26
He looked down, the blood flow already slowing. Pink skin inched over the wound, itching more than hurting, and he looked at his fingers. Scratches had been lining them from exploring the cave, cutting his hands on sharp rocks or the wall. Nothing major, they didn’t even hurt all that much, but now they were nowhere to be found.
The skin scabbed, still tender and painful, when the timer ran out. He popped another chunk in his mouth, savored the feeling, and the skin closed completely. Another chunk and the scar lightened slightly, feeling at his back to find it was the same there.
Mark carved up the boar, stuffing as much as he could in a makeshift rabbit fur sack, and stood. He marveled at his feet, the onset of blisters having disappeared with the cramp in his legs. Leaving the boar wasn’t something he was happy with, especially not if it gave him regeneration, but dragging it proved to be less than feasible. ‘Sides, need to test how long the buff lasts. Don’t need the whole boar for that.’
He found where the boar had come from, a cave, unsurprisingly, and set up shop. Spending an hour or so gathering what vegetation he could, not much, made him a bed. The one bush he found gave him firewood, with no way to light it. Something about rubbing two sticks together, not a skill he was proficient in.
With fire being a bust he set his watch, planning to eat a chunk of meat once every half hour till two hours, then one every ten minutes. He should have enough for the test, and with night falling it’d be everything he’d get anyway. The scavengers could have what was left of the boar.
“Status.”
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 2 Class skills (1):
Adaptable +
Strong Stomach +
General Skills (1):
Dodge +
Rock fighting +
Pain Tolerance +
Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive. Buffs: Minor Regeneration (Star Boar): 0:21
He shrugged, doing the mental equivalent of hovering over his first class skill. It popped up, Mark snorting. ‘Intuitive, at least.’
Adaptable. The greatest human trait, now brought to greater heights. The buff gained from your Class Feature also impacts a portion of the prey’s natural physiology. Take and consume, grow and take.
‘So, what? Boars have thick skin, so my skin thickens? Permanently? No, probably not permanently.’
Strong Stomach. To eat is to survive. Your Class Feature grants some protection from eating things that would normally make you sick. This skill increases that protection dramatically. Take and consume, grow and take.
‘Some protection? I learned math in school, in case you want to start using that.’ He shook his head. ‘Eating raw meat should make me sick, I’m pretty sure, but so far nothing. Do the skills stay, or do they disappear? Adaptable is better for long term survival. Is it?’
Mark sighed. ‘Never been the type to debate endlessly. Adaptable.’
Nothing happened, making him backtrack to his main status. He clicked, for lack of a better word, the plus sign. No confirmation screen came, something he committed to memory, and he ate another chunk of meat.
A tingling sensation shivered over him, veering just over the side of unpleasant, and disappeared within seconds. He pinched his skin, feeling pain radiate where he’d pinched far too hard, but it didn’t even turn red. ‘Thick skin and increased strength?’
He lifted up a rock, one of the bigger ones, and dropped it. ‘Cool.’
It went away at the same time as the regeneration, something he realized could have caused his skin not to turn red, and he sat down again. The vegetation was on the wrong end of pleasant, but better than the stone.
Dodge. You attempted to dodge the charge of a Star Boar, killing it afterwards. This skill will assist in the judgment and timing of dodging enemy attacks.
Rock Fighting. You killed a Star Boar with a rock. This skill will help with the timing, angle and speed of which to use rocks as your weapon.
Pain Tolerance. You have survived wounds that should have killed you, where it not for your Class. Enduring the pain and fighting on earned you this skill, which will help to ignore pain in the future.
Mark hovered, briefly uncertain, before clicking pain tolerance. ‘Dodge next time, fuck rock fighting.’
He finished testing the meat expiration, finding his guess of three hours more or less correct, and laid down. No fire to ward off predators, only a light jacket to keep him warm and keys as his sole usabeable tool. Sleep would take hours, he knew, so he would use that time to plan. ‘Plan, right. Not like there’s a magic portal to take me home.’
Name: Mark Dallton Class: Gluttony Level: 2 Class skills (0):
Adaptable
Strong Stomach +
General Skills (0):
Pain Tolerance: level 1
Dodge (locked)
Rock fighting (locked)
Feature: Kill and eat, eat and survive. Buffs: None
He was surprised to find sleep claim him in only minutes, too tired to worry about nightmares. They didn’t come, Mark dreaming of a little girl smiling against a rainstorm.