Cartography Increase: Level 1 → 2

Verity stared at the notice as it appeared. She did not expect it to come as she hardly considered herself safe as she walked, but her inner self must have believed otherwise. The map was probably worthless in the long run, especially once she began tall and the landmarks changed. For now, it gave her something productive to do which was worth more towards her mental health than anything else. The path of the creature had begun to curve back towards where she estimated the keep to be, so she had to make the hard choice to leave the relative safety it represented. At least she was no longer hungry. The reason for her newly sated status was something she was choosing to forget. Some things were better left in the past, and the bits of stray chitin only served to highlight the undervalued importance of repressed memories.

The maze up to this point consisted of large hedges and artificial greenery. She could tell it was fake the same way she had been able to tell the now deceased plants on her and in her bag were alive. These plants had no aura and the dungeon magic went straight through and around them. Being a creature of the dungeon system at large even if a quite far removed one at that, Verity could see the power flow in a way humans and non-allied beings could not. Rarely did it provide any concrete benefit, but right now it was interesting to see how the magic moved.

As she looked for a good point to leave the wake of the giant beast, she watched the swirls of mana. It seemed to flow along currents that took it in consistent yet highly convoluted patterns. The path she was on curved to the right, and most of the magical energy flowed along the path in the same direction as the monster. Bits of it swirled near the creature's head where it would pool before going out to rejoin the other bits of mana coursing around the dungeon.

Verity assumed this was how the dungeon communicated with the creatures inside and felt fortunate for her small size as the mana did not flow much down at her level. Only a faint haze of purple energy came from the stone under her feet and judging by the way nothing but ants had accosted her she could guess her presence was not a large enough threat to trigger the larger beast's aggression.

Other waves of energy came through the plant life to join the larger current, but she noticed some places where the streams were larger than most. This only meant they were bigger than a threat, so she did not find any viable until the beast was faced completely in the direction of the keep. At the arc of their slopping turn, there was a larger mouse sized stream, and she peeled away to see where it led. The hedge was solid where the mana was flowing, so it was not an easy task to maneuver through the dense twigs and leaves. However, the most arduous of her difficulties was staying out of the current itself. She wanted to see where it went without alerting the dungeon of her location. It probably knew already, but there was a small chance it had misplaced her if there were other more distracting adventurers around.

As she followed the glowing and ever-moving current, she noticed the way everything inside of the hedge was lifeless and dull unless it had mana running right beside it. Then it looked vibrant and real. It was a new glimpse into the underworld of how the dungeons worked and she took great care to avoid the dungeon's influence wherever possible.

Once at the outside edge of the wall of shrubbery, she found herself peering into a large open clearing with a sleeping giant in the middle. The person was likely around six feet and had numerous animalistic aspects. Its face was pinched and chubby like an orc's, but lacked their distinctive black eyes and squat stature. Instead, this creature had rolls of limp fat hanging from its unmuscled frame that could be found on every portion of its body straight down to its shockingly dainty hooved feet. Those feet were currently propped up on the only other object visible, a russet hued chest. The chest was only a fourth the size of the porcine creature, yet handled the weight without any signs of breaking.

The aim of this clearing was obvious. Whoever found it should defeat the monster to get the treasure or they should be sneaky and steal the treasure. She could see the appeal to such action but had no desire to try and kill an opponent fifty times her size in battle. Thievery was also unappealing since she was too small to take anything with her, so instead, she just watched for a minute. A small part of her was hoping another challenger would come along to let her see if there were any hidden perils here. Sadly, she saw no one. However, she did take note of the locations of the mana in the room particularly the one she had followed to find this place. Her mana current circled the edge of the clearing nearest her before it darted out to circle around the creature for a few rotations and then it headed back to the side of the clearing and left. She failed to find anything off about this until tracing the path of six other currents. They all hugged the side, rushed in straight to the guardian without deviation, and circled him a bit before returning and leaving.

She reclined against the branch she was perched on. It was a good thing she had not yet stepped into the clearing since that would likely have set off some type of alarm to alert the creature of her arrival. Prior to her adventure, she had always wanted to act rather than think, but her mother had spent years trying to teach her 'to restrain her spirit to activate her mind.' It was her mother's favorite saying and one she had never truly grasped. Today, it made sense.

Her spirit wanted to move and continue on, yet throughout this journey, she had learned that there was a host of information just waiting for someone to be patient enough to see it. There were times to act and times to evaluate. Her comfortable position and tired body helped her make the choice to wait and watch.

Time passed and she found herself napping interminably. During one of these brief spells of awareness between her rest, she saw the creature turn over and noticed where the currents traveled. When it had been curled up on its side with its feet propped on the lid of the chest, she was limited in her sight. All she had been able to notice was the swirling mana lines surrounding it. Now that it was turned over, she saw that the lines came from the edge to circle its neck, head, and upper torso with almost none going past its stomach. The few that did went exclusively to a small belt pouch she had missed before, yet had been displaced from the fat roll it had been hidden by during his move. The chest had absolutely no mana going to it.

Everything in a dungeon should have some mana, so the chest being devoid of it was a huge warning sign. he might have assumed it meant a trap, but dungeon made traps would still have to be powered and monitored by the dungeon which means they would have at least one current going to them. Even her own body had in the past had a channel tying it to the human dungeon. When she left it had severed the tie that allowed her to passively level, so that meant this chest was not associated with the dungeon at all.

It could be an illusion, a lost adventurer item, or maybe even a figment of her mind. The creature upon closer examination also lacked feeding lines. The ones that existed looked more like chains than anything else. As curious as she was to figure out more about this place, she did not have unlimited time. Her naps had failed to sate her need for a deeper sleep, yet were enough to keep her going. The pouch was the goal of this challenge she decided and so that was what she would get. The chest might very well be filled to the brim with lost adventure relics like her cape that held enchantments to aid anyone in surviving, but the risk was not worth it. The ground beneath her was crossed by the currents, but none reached farther than a foot into the clearing. Past that it just held the residual haze of mana. She leaped from her perch.

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The shock of hitting the ground took her breath from her lungs and left her gasping against the packed earth. She had been able to make the distance needed to avoid landing on one of the currents and once she could breathe normally again, she proceeded to walk towards the sleeping creature. The striking resemblance to a human confused her mind, but she pushed past that to focus solely on the pouch. At her size there had been no need to sneak up to remain quiet, her steps were light as the patter of a mouse and she waltzed right up to his hip unnoticed.

She peered up at the small bag about her own size and considered how to continue. If it was sensitive it may notice her climbing, yet she could not see another approach. There was a point lower down on its thigh where she could climb without nearing dungeon mana and so she started, and she fell. Fat was not good for gripping with her small hands. The creature's skin was dense and difficult to grip. She almost used a knife to make a handhold before common sense stopped her. It had not woken yet, but if she started stabbing it then she failed to see how it could resist waking.

Minutes passed while she stumbled and jumped to try and make it work with no success. Had its feet been on the ground she could have run up them to his hip, but they remained on the chest out of reach. His hand was not so distant, and it lay against his stomach with the elbow resting on the ground. She walked over and climbed up the mounds to reach its wrist. There was no easy path to avoid the mana, so she did her best and approached the pouch somehow without alerting it.

It was a tan bag made of animal skin with stiff sides that did not give her a hint as to its contents. The opening was knotted up and had mana coursing through it as did the rest of the bag. She pulled out her knife and considered the fasted approach. If she sawed at the knot she would have to open it and run, but if she took out the seams at the bottom then if she failed to grab it, the objects would fall when it rose to chase her. That was the best idea she had, and she lined herself up and began to cut the seams as quickly as she could. A creaking noise sounded in the clearing and she worked faster. The bottom flapped open and a key came out. She hefted it up and thanked the gods for her strength.

She could only spare it a momentary glance as the body beneath her was shaking as it woke up, but it was a copper key about her height with gilded runes running up its length. The torso of the creature rose sending her flying into its lap with the key clutched in her hands. She looked up and they made eye contact, or at least she did. The creature did not seem fully aware and its dilated eyes roamed everywhere in search of the threat. She looked forward for the best way to go and her eyes looked at the keyhole in the chest, and then at the key in her hand. In her current size, she could have probably made her way inside without the key, so she had not even thought about it, but now she did.

There was still mana going to the key that followed her as she ran along its leg towards the chest. She narrowly dodged a smack from its flailing hands as she rushed, and it surprised her when the legs did not shift from the chest. She had been ready to leap for it at any time, yet it never moved anything other than the upper body. That portion was moving, screaming, and practically vibrating with rage. The flesh beneath her began to ripple instead of merely shake. She was only a foot away from the lid and she cleared it before the body morphed into something else entirely. A giant tentacled monster appeared and she thrust the key into the hole in complete panic as blows nearly shattered her small form. She felt herself blacking out but managed to use the force assailing her to turn the key. A click resounded in the clearing and the monster disapeared.

Name:

Verity Stonefist

Stats:

Skills:

Level:

7 (37.5%)

Strength:

11

Name:

Level:

Affect:

Age:

15

Dexterity:

12

Cleaning

10 (11%)

Grime Repulsion, Minor void

Race:

Golem-Human Hybrid

Agility:

9

Caregiving

7 (34%)

Sense Needs

Class:

--------------

Will:

8

Unarmed Combat

6 (15%)

Reinforced Fists

Weaknesses:

Humidity, blunt objects

Cooking

3 (10%)

Acting

2 (16%)

Knife Proficiency

2 (20%)

Cartography

2 (8%)