“What is this?”

*Slimy sound of something sticking out of the hole.*

“No! No! This was supposed to be an easy kill!” I clench my teeth.

Another set of four legs sticks out of the shell in sync. Horrendous. I gaze upon the abomination and start to feel a weird tingling and shivering all around my body. The uneasiness and discomfort are triggered by looking at eight thick turtle legs, each with a pointy claw on the bottom.

What should I expect from this? To run twice as fast? I back away even more.

*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.*

My eyes adjust while tracing the red light moving around me, fast in circles.

“Aaaaargh!” Desperately screaming, I wave my chair leg in all directions, trying to hit whatever I can, except the cave, of course.

“This is not twice the speed! Aaaaaargh!”

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

The chair leg whistles in the air as I wave it around, screaming and turning on the spot.

*Bang followed by insect-like wheezing and screeching.*

The armored spider-turtle hybrid drops to the ground as I probably hit its extended head.

“Phew.” I turn around quickly and check for any more of these creatures. The only light in the cave is the six red dots on the top of the shell and the warm yellow light in the distance. I notice that the light is flickering.

“That is not an exit! Gosh!”

“Please be at least something good.”

The health bar over the eight-legged hybrid beast has about one fifth of its original length. The dark green wet thing lies on the ground on its side with all the legs facing forward. As I see them all together in one braid, I feel even more uncomfortable.

“If I ever touch this with my bare hands, I'm gonna kill myself.”

Approaching it carefully for any potential ambush, once comfortable, I swing my weapon over my head and smash the remains with all the power in my right arm and shoulder. The pointy iron-bound chair leg destroys the fleshy head with one blow.

*Ding*

I leveled up, as expected from a level 3 beast.

Still freaked out by the darkness and the possibility of more of these in the cave, my brain stops listening to me. My body starts to run like a madman towards the light, ignoring the level-up point, solely to escape the uneasiness as soon as possible.

*Thud*

My wet, slippery sneaker, made mostly for casual jogging, gets caught on one of the rocks sticking from the ground.

I trip in the darkness and fall with my face on some sort of rock.

“Ouch!” escapes my mouth as my cheek lands on the bump, and my toe starts to hurt too.

Recovering from the situation, I feel the leather-like squishy thing rolling under the left side of my face. The red wet blob reveals itself, touching my left cheek.

The goosebumps are rising. Are these eyelids? I scream internally and roll away fast, completely soaking in the mossy murky water. While I get up fast, shaking out of disgust and horror, five more eyes pop open.

Forcefully closing my hand around the chair leg, I repeat the last scenario. But now, anger replaces fear and disgust. I scream, smash, and bang the thing, ignoring the health bar and all the surroundings until my chair leg is destroyed to pieces.

All the eyes popped in the process, and I successfully killed the creature.

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*A satisfying ding brightens my mood.*

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Now I can see the light in the distance more clearly. It's not that far away from me and looks like another bronze bowl, the same as we found in the forest. I wonder if it would radiate the same heat and if I would suddenly feel cozy around it.

Now I walk with caution and certainty, without any weapon. Immediately stepping into the radius of the flame light, I feel sleepy, cozy, and safe, almost invisible. It feels like it has some sort of protective barrier.

Leaning over the bowl with my back, I enjoy the warm flames touching and tickling me. While trying to stick my bare hand out of the barrier, I can immediately tell the difference; I feel the cold, moist cave. Quickly, I pull my hand back and decide to sit there for a while. I recover from the situation and look around.

Now I definitely have to treat myself with the numbers. Sitting on the bowl like it was a toilet, the flames burn all around me. Both surreal and quite funny. My finger goes automatically for the strength, and I assign two points to it. An almost unrecognizable paralyzing wave of energy flashes through my body, and my right arm feels a bit stiff for a second or two, almost like a bee stung me in it. Shaking off the feeling, I continue asking myself, "How do I measure if anything significant changed regarding my strength?"

Markus Hale foreigner level 6 Strength 9 no skill Agility 3 no skill Willpower 4 no skill Endurance 3 no skill

I pull up my shirt and check my fat belly. Nothing changed, of course. Pulling up my right sleeve, I flex my bicep. 'Is it, or is it not?' I wonder. While examining my veins, I conclude that I used my right arm a lot today, swinging that heavy chair leg.

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

Peeking out of the “safe zone,” I take a whiff of moist heavy air and examine my surroundings. Looking away from the fire, my eyes adjust to the darkness once again.

There are two inconspicuous doors. One trapdoor on the ceiling and the other a few dozen steps from the fire. Both of them perfectly blend with the environment, covered in moss and heavily weathered.

Looks like this is the end of a cave corridor. I feel relieved. Looking at the trapdoor up there, I quickly doubt the possibility of pulling myself up. Despite investing two points into strength, I know I will physically not be able to do even one single pull-up. I never did that successfully in my life. Bullied by my performance in PE on a daily basis.

I stand up and walk carefully towards the other door. I take out one half of my broken walking stick and poke the door with it. It has a rough texture and is probably made of stone. Carvings are all over it, but I don’t pay much attention to it as it is still very dim inside. The door is very tall and sturdy without any knob or lever.

Guess this is the opportunity to test my strength. I brace my whole body against the door and first try to push it outwards.

*Crackling followed by dust falling*

“Pffff. Pfffffff.” I spit all over the place as a large amount of fine gravel dust falls from the top of the door onto my head.

“God damnit!” My about four-inch-long hair is now full of ancient dirt, and my sweaty forehead is a great sticker for it as well.

I push again, and the door finally moves. A slight slit lets a strip of bright light from the outside enter the cave.

*Something cracks at the back of the cave*

“Ooo.. oh!” Quickly turning on the spot, I hop back near the fire. Sitting on top of the flaming bowl like it was a toilet once again, I watch the movement.

A blurry red light moves around in quick dashes around the fire. It never steps inside the imaginary bubble; its health bar or name doesn't appear. I watch as it scouts the area and disappears in the distance.

“One, two, three!”

*Swoosh*

I run mindlessly towards the slightly opened door and slam it fully with my body, opening it wide enough to slip out whole.

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

Bright light blinds me in an instant, followed by fresh air.

Stepping out of the dark murky cave, the first thing that catches my sight is a dense bamboo forest right in front of the rocky wall. Some of the bamboo is broken and bent.

“Bamboo? Here? How, why?” I look around, confused.

On my right is the infamous castle gate that we were supposed to open. Behind me is the rock wall with a fissure I just came out of, and on my left is a muddy path.

I don’t dare go closer to the gate. From a distance, I can tell it's thick without any gaps between the planks.

“Miike, Astriid!” I call for them. Of course, nothing.

In the middle of the muddy road, I notice a big arrow made of broken bamboo and two letters: M and A. Instant happiness and relief fill me up.

“It must be them! I believe!” I pick up the bamboo and observe it, toying with the thought of using it as my new weapon. But it's too light and brittle. I’ll pass.

Running up the rocky path while I keep calling for the couple, I notice another arrow! This one points right, into the bamboo forest.

I don't hesitate even a little to enter, fully trusting the symbols on the ground. The forest is dimmer and wetter compared to the first one. The air is perfect, moist, and refreshing. It’s neither cold nor hot. The wind occasionally blows, and while it does, I shake my hair to clean it of the excess dust and dirt.

It's so weird and magical, being suddenly in a completely different biome. It feels like I left Europe and appeared in Japan, divided by a few minutes of walking through the cave.

I close my eyes and enjoy the breeze.

*Bam*

*Squelch*

“Ouch! What the hell?!”

About a handful of mud hits me on the back of my head. I look around, confused.

*Sniff*

“Ewww.”

“Gross, is this dung?”

*Bang*