Everything was gone—the itchiness, the pulling on his body. He stood there a moment, enraptured by the liquid, just breathing.
He realized he had been wrong as Hunter entered what he thought was a liquid. It was as if he were walking through a dense fog with almost no resistance. Breathing wasn't an issue either.
A blinking red bar in Hunter's vision grabbed his attention, and he momentarily panicked and rushed out of the fog.
Focusing on the health bar, he was surprised to see it completely full and blinking while it slowly became transparent. It didn't entirely disappear, but he could easily see through it and ignore its existence entirely.
"This stuff healed me, " he muttered, stretching his muscles to test his mobility. His body felt light and agile, his mind felt clear, and even his legs no longer felt like they had been walking.
"Did I just get drugged?" he asked himself. Looking down at his body, he first noticed the shorts. They now looked like a much lighter brown. His shorts looked clean and puffy. Hunter reached down and touched them. The shorts felt soft to his touch. "What exactly was that fog?"
Turning around, he looked at the cylinder of fog. It continued to rotate and still looked as clear as ever. Next to the cylinder, he noticed his stick was lying there. He reached down and picked it up.
With a thought, he pushed the stick into the liquid. The stick didn't seem to react or change, but once he pulled it out, he noticed a small nub on the end, which seemed to have the smallest of roots growing out of it.
Before he could test further, a pang of hunger gnawed at his stomach. Looking around the room, he only saw the blue roses emitting that soft light from their bulbs.
"Can you eat roses? I think I can." He thought, walking over to the plants. He crouched down, looking at the roses. He was perplexed at the sight. First, the roses didn't have any thorns that he could see. They also grew from individual stems and didn't even have any extra peduncles, only a single stalk bare without leaves.
Not feeling hungry enough to eat the slightly glowing roses, he stood up. "A last resort." He said to himself.
Looking to the far side of the room, he walked to the stairs leading upwards. The stairs looped slowly back on themselves. To Hunter, each room was lined up as if it were layered on top of the other, almost like an underground skyscraper.
Coming to the top of the stairs, he paused. This room had marble flooring and a single large carved pillar in the center. What made him pause, however, was a sleeping penguin.
It was adorable. It lay on its back, its fat stomach lowering and raising with each breath. Hunter had a side he didn't always show. He adored anything cute, not only cats. This penguin hit high on his cute meter.
Stepping up the last few steps, he felt the change to the cold marble on his feet; Hunter didn't think he was being loud, but the small penguin made a squeaking sound as it rolled over before getting up.
"Sorry, buddy. Did I wake you?" He cooed at the tiny creature. Hunter thought that penguins would be bigger, but this one only seemed to be about one and a half feet tall.
The creature flapped its small flippers against itself as it chirped until it spotted him. Upon seeing him, it froze as if out of fear.
Hunter felt bad for disturbing the little guy's sleep but tried talking to it to calm it down. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'm just going to slip around you and go farther upstairs." With that, he completely stepped inside the room, which immediately changed the penguin's attitude.
The penguin let out a high-pitched bray, flapping its flippers against itself. Hunter thought it was cute and must have just been scared until its beak, only a few inches in size, opened up, expanding in size as it revealed razor-sharp teeth. The penguin let out a much louder, lower-tone chirp, the sound of which reverberated in Hunter's chest.
He froze, looking at the creature with apprehension. "Is that normal? I don't think that is normal." Hunter backed up towards the stairs, hitting his back against something hard. Glancing around, nothing was there.
He was still a few feet away from the wall, so he hadn't hit it. Reaching behind him, he felt a hard surface invisible to the eye.
Turning his full attention to it, he felt lower near the ground with his foot. Again, something was stopping him. To him, it seemed like there was a transparent wall right at the edge of the marble floor.
A screech echoed behind him, and he spun in time to see the flightless bird flying toward him with its sharp beak open only a few feet from his face.
He ducked to his left, his back still against the wall. "Did it just jump at me?" he asked himself as he stumbled backward.
The bird hit the invisible wall hard, hitting face first; the penguin let out a pained squeak as it dropped and looked at him again.
Hunter held his stick harder than ever in his hand, the only thing between him and the angry bird.
It jumped at him again.
Hunter dove to his left, the bird's razor-sharp beak slicing the air just inches from his shoulder.
Although he thought he dodged, the bird hit him with its wing as it passed.
He could feel something snag his skin, and then it tore a rough wound just above his left elbow.
Hunter cried out in pain as he reached over with his other hand.
The blood was already rolling down his arm, dripping onto the floor. Hunter saw his health bar become opaque again and lower by twenty percent. "Why are you attacking me?" he yelled at the penguin.
It didn't answer, instead jumping at him again.
Expecting it this time, he dodged right, trying to swing at it with his stick.
The penguin and him both missed.
The bird made some angry-sounding chirrups at him as they circled each other.
Hunter tried to ignore the pain and focus on the fight.
His health was now at three-quarters and lowering.
The bird jumped, this time aiming for his face.
He stepped forward while ducking.
The penguin missed.
It flew right above him, missing him by inches.
Hunter spun, slashing the bird with his stick.
The stick aimed true and hit the recovering bird's face.
It broke.
The bird wobbled backward and away from him as a wound on its head opened. A dark blood flowed out, no more like a dark fog. The fog-like blood steamed from the wound, slowly evaporating into the air.
Not allowed time to think, the bird did something different; its eyes glowed.
Hunter froze, a slight pain reminding him of the goat's eyes doing that before slashing him.
The bird's flippers, which he had been wondering if were sharp, grew visible two-inch barbs protruding from them. The penguin itself seemed to grow a few inches as its fur took on a light red glow.
It screeched at him and jumped.
It was aiming for his chest again.
Hunter dodged to his right again, but with his focus on the bird in front of him, he realized he hadn't dodged the right way, running into the invisible wall.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
He stumbled for a moment before his back was racked with pain as barbs gouged out flesh.
Hunter fell to his knees as the bird jumped off him like a springboard.
His back felt like it was on fire; blood was pooling below him, and his health bar was dropping below half quickly. "I have to do something." He said, remembering the room downstairs.
With his stick in hand, he rushed the little monster.
His heart raced, adrenaline rocketing through him.
Hunter reached out with his already damaged left arm.
The bird focused on the outstretched limb, slicing it repeatedly in midair.
His arm still arrested its movement.
With his other arm, he took it and the stick and jabbed it at its face.
His aim stayed true.
The stick went into its eye socket and kept going as if its skull was hollow.
Black smoke shot from the wound.
The monster seemed to dissolve as the black fog left its body, and then its skin dissolved into the smoke.
Hunter felt relief, but just for a moment, breathing heavily, he looked down and watched as goblets of blood pooled from his arm and onto the ground.
Screens appeared, demanding attention, but with panic in his chest, he suppressed them, getting a sharp pain in the back of his head.
Adrenaline burst through his veins, making his mind work overtime as he tried to escape. "The way down," he muttered, turning toward the stairs, desperate to make it.
Hunter felt so weak that his head wobbled as he walked. He reached the end of the marble floor, reaching out, but the invisible wall was not there.
Getting to the first steps, he pressed his shoulder against the curving wall, sliding more than walking down the stairs.
Reaching the bottom, he fell hard, blood starting to pool below him; Hunter tried to get up, but his legs wouldn't listen. He could see the cylinder of fog now. "I'm so close; I can't give up."
Instead of getting up, he pushed with his legs and pulled the ground forward with his one good arm, counting as he got closer. "Only four or five more times."
His vision was swimming now. Three more pushes.
The edges of his vision were growing dark. Two more.
His body felt weak and cold; it screamed for him to give in. One more.
His legs completely stopped responding. He tried to pull himself forward, but his body wouldn't budge. The world felt cold, so very cold.
Stretching his arm out, he tried to reach for the cylinder. It was inches away. His health bar lowered past 5%
Hunter's arm slumped to the ground. "No," he thought, "I'm so close, I survived so far just to die here?"
His body felt content with that, dying here. But he couldn't, even if it was just so that he could make up for what he did on Earth, if even a small amount would make up for what he did to that family.
With no energy, he released the pain in his head, the screens popping up.
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You have killed Cowird-minion of Vegesteria. 11 xp earned
Level up, now level 4
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The health bar he was watching seemed to regain a small chunk when the message popped up before starting to drain again.
With the small amount of health bar, he could feel the smallest amount of potential energy and used it. This time, the blood below him seemed to lubricate his movement, and he was able to pull himself forward a few inches.
He reached out and touched it.
Nothing happened. "No." He thought. That was his only chance.
Then, like a lightning strike, an immense amount of energy flowed into him all at once.
His body felt compressed as the skin on his arm and back seemed to reach out for each other before becoming intensely itchy as they knitted themselves together.
The pain was immense; his whole body started getting pulled into the fog.
Then, as if all of that had been a dream, he opened his eyes. Everything felt great. He sat up, looking to where he had come, and the blood was gone.
His mind flooded with adrenaline as his heart tried to race through his chest, "I-I-I'm f-fine." he stammered, trying to convince himself.
Examining his body, Hunter noticed his arms shaking but looked fine. His back twitched as he thought of it, but he wasn't in pain. Hunter found himself double-guessing if he might have just had a nightmare.
A pain in his skull brought him back to the present, and he focused on it.
Hunter couldn't find it in himself to care anymore and just sat there breathing deeply.
"What is going on? What was that penguin? Why was it trying to kill me?" Feeling his mind start to spiral, he tried to stop himself.
"Hey, I got a new level." His voice sounded weak and fake even to himself. Instead, he decided to feed into his own curiosity. "Its eyes turned red like the goats did just before it changed. I swore the goat got faster when chasing me, and the penguin definitely changed. I wonder if it's some kind of buff they can give themselves."
Hunter then thought of the goat lying there on the slab of rock dead. "Why didn't it disappear like the penguin." He was starting to feel slightly better, so he looked back at the kill notification. “Minion of Vegesteria? What does that mean?" he wondered if someone out there was trying to kill him.
"There's Nothing I can do about that, " he thought, closing the screen; a new one appeared in its place.
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Dead body of Cowird spotted. Would you like to loot?
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The expected options of YES and NO, he mentally selected YES.
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Looted items:
Barbed bone
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Remembering he had to go to his inventory, he dismissed the screen and opened weapons. There it was, and he selected it with his arm outstretched.
The bone fell into his hand. It was light, smooth, and fit in his palm perfectly. A barbed end about four inches long lay on one side, looking dangerously sharp. He sat up straight, remembering the damage this could cause.
"I hope I don't need this," he said, placing it beside him. Opening his stat sheet, he looked over it.
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Stats:
Strength:
5+1=(Hard-worker)
Durability:
6+1=(Hard-worker)
Agility:
6+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker)
Intelligence:
8+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey)
Wisdom:
7+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey)
Allocatable points 5
Level 4
XP 38
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Hunter quickly looked it over: " Strength 5+1 from hard worker, durability 6+1 from hard worker. Why have they not changed like the last time I leveled up?"
Then, it caught his attention. "Allocatable points 5," he muttered. He was immediately confused: "Why didn't it let me distribute them last time?"
No answers came, but he decided not to dwell on it as he wondered what to put his points into.
"Durability felt like it was making my skin harder, but it would be nice not to take as much damage. But agility, if you can dodge stuff fast, you don't need to get hit." He even thought of strength, but with a glance at the razor-sharp barbed bone next to him, he disregarded that thought.
"My intelligence and wisdom are already high, and I don't know what they will really do, so I'll put four into agility and one into durability.
He selected them and felt his bones burn. Looking down, his skin almost crawled as his bones slightly shifted or became smaller.
Standing up, he walked around. Everything felt more fluid. It felt like his body would respond quicker. Nodding at his decision, he started to get a grin on his face.
"It really is like a game." He jumped up and down a few times, happy with his newfound agility, but then, spotting the barbed bone, his excitement and grin quickly dropped. "Even if it's like a game, everything still hurts."
Now more solemn, he thought about his situation. "I could go up again now that the floor is cleared, but there will probably be more monsters." He looked at his weapon.
Hunter felt his hand shuddering at the thought of killing again. He didn't like killing, but the memory of his torn and mangled arm was enough to convince him he needed to get stronger. He looked at the glowing cylinder of light, his lifeline in this place, and then at his arm, which didn't even have a scar left on it, and spoke out loud.
"I could go back to the cave, but this place is less scary than that town I went through; I'll take my chances here instead of finding more of those.
Resolute, he was about to head back up the stairs when a new and powerful pang of hunger struck him like a bolder. Looking at the roses, he grabbed his weapon and walked over.
Sitting down, he leaned forward and smelled them. They all let off a light fragrant smell that seemed to calm his nerves. Reaching toward the roots, he cut one halfway up the stem and examined it.
The light from the bulb flickered out after Hunter removed it, but even so, it radiated its beauty; the royal blue rose didn't look like food, but Hunter couldn't eat the penguin since it evaporated and didn't have fire to cook it anyway.
With one last check for barbs, he plucked a petal off and placed it on his tongue.
His brows shot up. It was sweet, similar to the smell. A fresh, almost strawberry or grape taste surprised him.
The texture was like eating salad greens, but the taste easily made up for that. Hunter continued eating the rose, even trying the hip and stem. They were slightly more bitter, but there was a nice flavor difference.
Upon finishing his odd flowery dish, a screen popped up.
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Blue flower consumed
1 XP gained
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Hunter's jaw dropped. "I can eat these to gain more levels?" He looked around at the hundreds of flowers and thought: "If I can't go upwards, how long will I be down here? Are there other people who come down here?"
Then, a terrifying thought came to him. "If this is another world, are there even other people?"
That was not something he wanted to consider, so after thinking, he cut another flower and ate it. As he ate, he thought, "I will only eat these to survive. The stems have a good amount of liquid, so I think I should be able to survive off these as long as I don't eat them all. This will bring me to forty XP, so I should level up, too."
Expectingly, he received the notification.
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Blue flower consumed
1 XP gained
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Hunter waited, but no level-up notification came. "Oh yeah," he thought. "XP to each level usually increases."
With something in his stomach, he decided to return upstairs and scout past the room where he had killed the penguin.
Even walking up the flight was easier, and he had a grin again by the time he reached the top. The room was empty as he walked onto the marble.
He was almost to the midway point when he heard small flippers on the smooth ground. With a start, he backed up, gripping his barbed bone with a death grip as a small penguin rounded the pillar.