Mark tried his best to grab onto small openings in the cavern walls, but only managed to slow himself down slightly. His legs hit the ground with a thud. Then pain exploded, and his mind went blank.

An animalistic howl erupted for a split second before he cut it off. Mark's throat was sore, his body hurt, and his mind scrambled for help. He tried to get up and walk around, but collapsed a moment later. With clenched teeth and nails digging into his palms, all he could do was watch the darkness ahead of him for any threats.

Thankfully, nothing came. After some of the pain had receded, Mark forced himself to crawl ahead to where his torch landed. Then he heaved himself up against the cavern wall and tried to listen for any noises.

But his own breathing was too loud and heavy. Mark chose to leave immediately, or the orc might end up following him down after hearing his hoarse pants. He began to limp forwards, leaning on the wall as support.

Mark counted over a hundred spikes of pain in his leg, but the wall continued to look the same as ever. This cavern was much larger than he expected. He needed rest.

When a patch of darker soil caught his eye, he seized the chance for a break. He lowered himself back down onto the ground and crawled closer.

His hands slowly became wet while he moved. There was a faint moisture in this soil. As he inched deeper into the center of this area, its size widened dramatically, and he found a place where tiny mushrooms grew in small groups.

[Cave Mushroom] - A small non-magical mushroom suited to grow in large caverns. Helps slake the thirst of smaller animals.

The message did not change even when Mark plucked out the mushroom. They were probably safe to eat. He wrapped a bundle inside the leftover packet from his first loaf of bread and stored them away for later.

Then a thought struck his mind. He could try growing these mushrooms himself. The system's message didn't mention how much water he needed, but if he managed to find the water source, he could try introducing water into his pocket plane. Then he'd have slightly more food, which would help considerably.

He would grab some of the soil for now. Mark forced himself to stand up on his own, grimacing at the sharp pain in his leg before he wandered around the mushroom area. He had to make sure there were no creatures watching him open the portal.

After carefully setting down a few patches of soil, he closed the pocket plane and beelined straight towards the wall. It did not feel safe to stay to linger in the middle of a food source.

"I should rest in my pocket plane," Mark muttered. He took great care to scout out his nearby surroundings again before resummoning the portal. The cool breeze and warm sun made him feel a lot safer, even with the portal glowing in plain sight. After all, monsters could only come from that direction, and not from all around him.

Mark began to check each batch of mushrooms to make sure they were still alive. Surprisingly, they even appeared healthier than before. He knew nothing about transplanting mushrooms, so this level of success shocked him. This benefit had to come from his pocket plane.

Since the mushrooms looked so healthy, Mark brought them deeper into the area and scattered light amounts of water from his second bottle onto them. That freed up space from the entrance for him to drag in something bigger. He didn't want a corpse to flatten his newfound food source.

Speaking of corpses, the skeleton he had pulled in was still intact, in another corner. Its magical energies had all dissipated by now. Mark didn't expect to find another use for the body, so he broke off a few more bones from it, placing them in his bag.

He also practiced firing off Magic Missiles into the distance until he could create them quickly and reliably through the pain. Mark even tried to put some pressure onto his injured leg before he screamed again. He decided to save that session for another time.

After recovering enough to leave, Mark decisively stepped out and closed the pocket plane. Then he continued limping in the same direction, hoping to find an exit or another point of interest.

A good distance away from the mushrooms, a massive vine grew out of the wall and slumped down onto his path. Sap dripped from various openings alongside its body, and in the torchlight, Mark saw something wriggle and disappear inside. He probed the plant with his magic and received quite the surprise.

Carnivorous Vine - Level 15

The thing had levels. An immense amount. Not only that, but littered around its body were the torn up pieces of huge insects. His magic roamed around each corpse, identifying them as mutated bugs with a "hint of magical ability" imbued inside them. They had lost their levels with their deaths, so Mark didn't know how to gauge the vine's power.

But he decided not to test it. As he tried to move past the vine, it twitched. Mark froze until it seemed to settle down. When he finally made up his mind to continue, a gigantic beetle with jagged horns emerged from the darkness, preventing his escape. His eyes went wide and he hurriedly snuffed out his torch.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The beetle staggered into view with a bent leg. One of its eyes was leaking fluid, and wet scars appeared all around its carapace. It seemed to be searching for something.

Mark held his breath as it drew closer to one of the vine's openings. The beetle brought its mouth close to drink some of the dripping sap.

Over time, its wounds began to close. They stitched themselves back together and its eye stopped leaking. Even its injured leg had straightened.

But the beetle began to look a little droopy. Its eyes seemed clouded, and when no more sap appeared from the opening, the insect staggered away, drunk. Yet it couldn't take more than a dozen steps before it sank deep into the dirt.

The vine shifted. The opening where the beetle was drinking from before widened considerably and engulfed the insect whole. That beetle, likely able to butcher Mark by itself, was dead without making a sound.

But Mark needed that sap to heal his injured leg. He had to figure out a plan.

To get around the massive vine, Mark crept deeper into the darkness. It choked the light from his torch, but he managed to keep the vine dormant, eventually making his way back to the wall without encountering another beetle. They probably lived a good distance away from the vine, but its sap was able to attract them.

Mark discovered the exit soon after. Then his heart skipped a beat when he came across a spot of dried blood. It was the place where he had fallen down.

With the cavern perimeter explored, Mark figured the beetles had a nest in the center. He wanted to get them to distract the vine while he scooped up some of its sap into his empty water bottle. But he didn't dare walk into the center with his leg like this.

It might be safer for him to simply wait there for another beetle to arrive. His goal was to collect as much sap as possible, but it clung to the vine's mouth and wouldn't drip onto the floor. That meant he'd have to get close.

He gathered his thoughts on what the vine could do. First, its body contained several sources of the curative, sleep-inducing sap. Second, it apparently had the ability to sense things, as it always twitched whenever he walked too closely to it. Third, it could move.

With how quickly the vine swallowed the beetle, Mark knew he couldn't stay for long. Luckily, the plant couldn't be too smart. It shouldn't know the difference between him and a beetle, so he'd have a period of time to take some of the sap freely without retaliation.

He set out to test his hypothesis by returning to the vine's massive body and waiting for an eternity. Eventually another beetle did appear. This one wasn't too injured, but it looked almost frantic as it flew towards the vine.

Again, the creature stopped doing anything else once its mouth drank the vine's sap. As its body became more sluggish, Mark waited until he saw the amount of sap had decreased by more than half. He then crawled closer and tried to project his magic to fly forwards, but without forming a shape.

Black Beetle - Level 2

The insect twitched in alarm, raising its head to look around, but then settled back down once nothing appeared. Mark, half-buried in the dirt, slowly freed himself from his position. As soon as the beetle fell asleep and became a second meal for the humongous vine, he started to move.

Mark let dozens of seconds pass with each step he took. He tried to picture himself as a cautious insect, ready to fly away at any moment. Anything to not alert the vine to his true intentions.

He reached an opening and began to scoop up some of the sap with his empty bottle of water. Once enough had accumulated inside the rim, he pushed some down with his fingers and went in for seconds. That was enough for two tablespoons.

He licked the sap off his fingers and ran away the moment he capped the bottle. The vine stood still for a second before it became furious, heaving back and forth with its immense bulk. Like a whip, it lashed out at his immediate surroundings. He watched it tear up the ground for half a minute until it settled down, though it still twitched from time to time.

Since the vine no longer remained dormant, Mark limped the other way around. He had undergone excruciating pain while running, but his plan had succeeded.

Sleepy Sap - A sap accumulated by the carnivorous vine to lure in its prey. Aromatic to certain types of insects. Contains healing properties and will induce sleep once enough is consumed.

Mark used a finger to take out a larger portion of the sap. His taste buds exploded with sweetness, and without thinking, his body brought the bottle up to his lips. Although it begged him to consume more, Mark held back.

The effects were swift. His broken leg became numb, and his heart burnt like fire. This heat radiated throughout his body and relieved many aches he didn't even know he had. His eyelids began to sag.

"This could get addicting," he muttered. Having confirmed the sap was not harmful, Mark lapped up half and felt immense relief flow through his injured leg.

His entire body became numb and warm, like a sleepy day on the beach. Memories played out like a movie in his mind, calling at him to immerse himself fully in daydreams. But Mark fought through his droopy eyes. With great effort, he focused on a random spot on the wall and began to crawl towards it.

Having a concrete goal helped Mark stay awake until the effects of the sap faded. Then he stood up, his leg as good as new. It felt normal again, even when his hands massaged where the pain had been the worst. There was no horrific jolt when he stomped the ground as hard as he could.

With the vine's ferocity, Mark's remaining portion of sleepy sap would have to go a long way. He wasn't getting more anytime soon.

Fortunately, one small portion of sap could numb him for a good length of time. Good for battles when he accumulated too many injuries to fight properly. The rest of the sap could also be used for healing afterwards.

But using up the entire thing for just combat made Mark hesitate. Although he knew it was a great life-saving option, the sap might bring other long-term benefits as well. Its aromatic properties meant he could try using it to lure insects into his pocket plane, letting them roam around in his hopefully soon-to-be-built farm. If those beetles were any good at helping plants grow, this would be a great investment.

Studying the Black Beetles meant having to journey deeper into the darkness. But Mark knew he had to constantly take risks in order to thrive in this world and rescue his mother, so with only a brief period of hesitation, he set off to the center of the cavern.