Finding the cave itself actually took a good three hours, but it was three hours well-spent, since I found a few straggling spiders and bugs to eat.

21 -> 61

And with that, I found it. Jutting out of the ground like an open wound. There is only one such hole in the whole of the asteroid, which just makes it even more special. My heart beats quicker as I approach it. Hehe. Then again, there is no real proof that it isn’t just a quick dead-end and that it is an actual cave system. Like, a fun one. The kind with crystals and spooky monsters in it.

A white spider pops out of the cave.

Well, that just proves it, huh?

I stick the spider in my mouth and descend into the black depths below.

61 -> 71

Unlike what I expected, my vision didn’t recede into nothingness the second I delved into the cave. I should probably have expected it, considering that I can see perfectly well out in the blackness of space, but it still feels like I had a critical aspect of cave-delving robbed from me. No impaired vision? That means I can’t light the cave with a flickering torch! Oh the horror!

Still, despite the obvious disappointment at not being hindered further, I move inside.

At first, there’s really nothing to point out. No growing crystals on the walls, no real enemies, just a bunch of rock on top and below me. It doesn’t even look threatening, since it’s barely black at all. Maybe I should squint just so it looks like I’m in the dark? Or would that be inauthentic? After all, here I am, trying to have a real cave exploration situation, and nothing is-,

Oh, hello there!

Hey, would ya look at that, a fork in the road! Well, I mean, It’s sort of a fork in the road. More like that the large path continues forward even though there’s a small crack in the wall.

Well, you know what they say about octopi!

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They can get into any crevice, so long as their beak fits through!

Man, feels kind of weird to say, but the sentiment is right. Even though this little crack is more than twice as small as me, I’m pretty sure I can make myself fit. So, I bow myself down, creep alongside the rocky floor, and slide one of my tentacles inside. Yup, it fits alright. Once the bump of the mouth and eyes fits through, I slide in another one, followed by a third and a fourth. And then, my main body goes inside, my fifth tentacle hanging behind like a tail.

I’d probably be a bit more afraid, what with the whole squeezing-through-a-crevice situation, but my tentacles fit very snugly. I kind of want to take a nap.

-Anyhoo!

The tentacles in the front can easily pull my body through and what with my body being somewhat slimy, it actually goes pretty easily. Even better, since I’ve got a bunch of eyes everywhere, I can see exactly where I’m going! Neato!

And so it is that I notice the white cloud in front of me before it notices me.

I’m struck by how odd it looks for a moment, and the spider takes that moment to tense up, probably to attack. But I need no preparation.

The core at my very front uses two of the tentacles attached to it to shoot through the tight crevice while the third slides around the full size of the spider, holding it tight. With the distance closed, the two other tentacles grab a hold of it as well, forcing it into my mouth. The spider barely gave a fight, and by eating it, I got a pretty neat look at how my upgraded Immunity handled the infection.

Pretty quickly, all and all.

71 -> 81

This does tell me that this isn’t a dead-end though.

Still, this little path seems to be going on for a very long time… -Oh, another spider! Cronch.

81 -> 91

I continue. How long have I been crawling for?... What, an hour? I have no concept of time. Maybe this really is a dead-end and I’m starting to asphyxiate from lack of air, hallucinating spiders as I go. Ah, then again, I haven’t got lungs. That’s wack.

Oh, another spider!

91 -> 101

Or it might be a hallucination, I really don’t know anymo-,

Pop!

I tumble out of the crevice, my whole body slipping out of the tight hole and into the breezy and light world. For just a moment or so I lie on the ground, all my limbs in a big heap, for the first time fully understanding what it means to be an octopus.

I pull myself together and rise up. What faces me is a world of light, brighter than anything outside, and for a moment it hurts all my eyes.

The walls and floor and ceiling is covered in a vast expanse of white fluff, like a constant rug everywhere, and it looks really soft because it has the same texture as cartoon clouds of cotton, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I understand that it’s not fluffy wool all around me, it’s immensely fluffy mould.

However, the bright pink crystals jutting out from the white fluffy world is probably not mould.

Oho! Cool crystals!!

This is-, this is exactly what I wanted to see. Ahhh. I know it’s mould and all, but just sitting here, looking at all the pretty crystals and fluffy world…

Wait, hold on, the fluff is moving. Rising. Black eyes popping out from the white fluff.

Filling the entire cave with their combined mass.

It’s spiders, huh?