Chapter 2 - Arrival_Splice

Suddenly, I fell through the floor. Around me swirling lights of all kinds. Gravity was in every which way, the direction more flowing than concrete. Soundless, and yet there was a rush of movement as I slipped through these ethereal energies.

A beautiful light caught my eye, swirling and twinkling blue. I reached out but my hand paused, retracting. The light fell upward, out of reach. My time was limited but I remembered what the voice had said. Reach out and attain a [Skill]. That the world below is not so innocent as I had thought.

I thought hard, this time my decision must be fast. I needed something to survive, to protect myself. Weaponry? There was no guarantee. Martial arts? There was something better. Magic then? Fire, water, darkness, lightning, they all passed through my mind. I would do more to hurt myself than protect myself with such destruction. Healing.

I thought about healing magic. With nothing to grasp upon, no idea. I pictured a green glow, healing sickly patients, closing wounds. I fell for seconds on end until I realized nothing was happening, no lights responded to my thoughts. I only slipped faster.

No, think differently. Flesh regenerating. Scabs and bruises healing. I thought more practical, but my mind fixed onto the magic of it all. Muscles tearings and coming back stronger, I thought all of these things. The science of it, the real happenings between flesh and bone.

[Skill] Acquired: [Flesh Magic]

You possess the innate ability to understand the workings of the flesh on a mystical level. Workings of magic upon the body are your specialty, flesh your canvas. Healing, altering, modifying, destroying, all fall within your purview.

I blinked at the words that appeared before me. They were just like the texts I had viewed when choosing my [Race] and [Trait]. I welcomed the magic, felt it flow within me as soon as I read the words.

An uncomfortable feeling infused my brain, memories being placed where old ones should've been. Details of muscles and fat filling the space. The elasticity of skin, the density of bone, how to encourage their healing. My mind lit up with information.

I opened my eyes and only continued to fall. Instinctively, I knew there was one last thing to do. I had to choose another [Skill] relating to science. My head felt weird, the sensation of falling every which way never allowed me to focus on the feeling.

My thoughts were a mess and I had no idea where to start. I thought in pictures, that was easiest. Watching the [Creature Study] demonstration, the researcher taking samples of the small animals he kept. DNA, if I understood it. I remembered the words I read, the history of the Stexpt. I thought about evolution, genetics. The encoded information within the body that I knew determined the individual.

[Skill] Acquired: [Genetics]

The study of hereditary and inherited genes within creatures. Genetic variations, features of an organism, defining behaviors or characteristics, all encompass genetics. The study of creatures and monsters, both physical traits and magical ones.

Effects:

1% Increase in efficiency of [Genetics] related tasks

I landed hard and blinked away the [Genetics] prompt, too shaken with the sudden change in sensation. I felt physical again, in my own body. Dim light assaulted my eyes, my neck pressed against something cold. Everything was damp. My skin rubbed against tattered cloth.

"What?" I managed groggily. My head swam with new information, as my eyes fought to understand the changed scenery. "Where am I?"

Steel bars. I wasn't getting through them anytime soon. A prison, made of jagged black stone. I stood up, a gross puddle on the floor allowing me to see myself through a muddy reflection. I didn't recognize the man who stared back. All the same, he followed my movements when I looked away.

My cell was dark.

I looked above me expecting to see an opening through which I had fallen. There was none. Only solid black stone, stalactites reaching downwards. Everything was bathed in a sickly green glow, one I'd generally attribute to unhealth. Droplets of water, murky with whatever substance, formed the puddles at my feet.

A loud banging made me flinch. The ringing made me think someone was striking the other cells. "Out with you worms! To the labs!" The voice was grumbled but loud echoing into incoherency before the call was taken up again. It was a slobbery sound like the noise was moving through thick jowls. Then it walked into view, a large fat creature that walked on two legs, sagged cheeks. Dark brown skin and angry.

He looked at me, for it was definitely a he, and screamed. "Out scum! You heard me!" Then he yanked my cell gate open.

"Okay! Okay!" I put up my hands, cowering. I thought best to follow his direction lest he beat me with the iron rod he held.

"Oh? So you finally speak, eh?" I felt his spittle strike my back, grosser than any puddle. "Bout time! Off with you!" Then he shoved me hard the direction he was walking.

I fell in with other gangly folks. We looked starved, had to be. I recognized none of the species I walked with. At the least, I was acclimated to the assortment of people. We all looked sick. The ones with fur were matted and unhealthy. Skin was pulled across ribs. The people with scales were hissing lowly, their colors mismatched, dull.

I spotted rats chittering up by the green lanterns that bathed the place. They looked big, even from my distance. They stared at us and I wondered if they were eyeing food.

We were herded like cows for the slaughter. I made myself small, unnoticed. Wherever I was, I needed to find a way out. My stomach rumbled.

It turned out, more than the glowing green lanterns, there were actually crystals of the same color, radiating green. I saw people pushing minecarts full of them, how the stick-like person did it was anyone's guess. Mine was that his power rested in his joints, while his limbs were a harder material. I paused, that was my [Genetics] knowledge. I pried my eyes away from the person, instead looking to where everyone was mechanically walking.

There were broken wooden tables. Another of the same race as our jailer was handing out slop. I grimaced, but the gathering line of reluctant people meant this was the only food there was. I followed suit, grabbing a dirty bowl and not finding any spoons, I got in line. The slop was slopped into my bowl and I nearly gagged. I sat with others not of my choice, but by necessity. There were only a few tables that were actually intact.

"I hope I get miner's duty." Someone said, somehow slurping through his bowl easily.

"You're insane." Someone said weakly. "Have you seen what happens if you spend too long with those crystals?"

"Better than the rats, or the others." A scaled person said into his own bowl. Ominous.

The way each had devoured their bowl hinted at a hard day. I stared at the slop disgusted. No one else was complaining, in fact, they were cleaning their bowls. I choked down the food, if you could call it that, reluctantly.

"You turn into the others if you're with the crystals, you idiot." The higher voice responded. "If you don't outright die in the first place!"

"You could pull a Halt." Someone said. "Run into the caves."

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"That's worse than both options. You'll die faster." A slower voice rebutted.

"Same old, same old." A tired man with glowing inscriptions on his body responded. "Same conversations every day. We're all going to die anyway. Why are you debating how?" He shook his head. "Pointless."

I soaked everything in. They ignored me, despite me being in the middle of the entire table. I caught the slitted eye of the scaled member of the table and they only looked away uncomfortably. I didn't talk at all and no one faulted me for it.

Miner's duty or just mining duty was just that. You were handed a pickaxe or hammer and were tasked to mine all day. The caves were dark but the glow of the crystals was obvious, you just followed the light. It was getting back that was the hard part. If you didn't bring back a decent amount of crystal compared to everyone else, you were sent back again. People got lost all the time, either they came back the next day when crystal collectors lit the path back or not at all. That was what I had been assigned, but I watched the rest shuffle off a different direction.

Rat duty. Rats infested the place. They were everywhere, crawling in the rafters, hanging on the lanterns. Sometimes their eyes could be spotted in the darkest corners of the prison, just staring. They needed people to kill them. The problem was the rats killed back. To this day, the nest hadn't been found. It was a staple to return with at least three bodies, the rats themselves were huge so three of them were by no means laughable. Anything less was punished and anything more was not rewarded.

I got pushed forward violently and turned around only to find many tired faces. No one wanted to wait, they wanted to get their day over with. I flinched at the large overseer in front of me, of the same race as the jailer and cook. He barely looked down at me, shoving a pickaxe in my hand, a lantern, and a rucksack. Someone behind me yelled at me to get going. I had to maneuver around the overseer's fat since he wouldn't make way and suddenly I was in darkness.

It was mining duty for me. I held up my lantern and walked, shining green light into the darkness. I could almost hear things moving in the dark, right outside my peripheral vision. But my mind played tricks on me nothing was ever there. I watched the progress of the tunnel, noting where places were chipped, where the tunnel branched off or seemed to collapse. I had to, to remember my way back. Then I came to a darkened fork, one of the only times the choice was only between two. My thoughts hastened.

[Racial Trait]: [Higher Functioning]: Crystal Deposits

[Racial Trait]: [Higher Functioning]

Through a millennium of nothing but mental exercise and mental gymnastics, your mind has developed neural pathways unheard of in organic architecture. Complex problems and solutions are as plain to you as simple multivariable calculus.

Effects:

15% Chance to perceive the answer to complex problems

The mined sections of the cave wall became obvious to me, and the position of various past crystal deposits appeared clear in my mind. Echoes of a pickaxe drifted down from the left fork which led downward, a lucky find by whoever was down there. The trend of crystals seemed to favor altitude, so I took the right fork to go higher. All the signs pointed to that.

As it turned out higher meant rats. Their size rivaled that of my shin, I paused at the first one I saw. It made sense that they were here in the caves too if we were considered a type of food. Somehow I was calm at the sight of the creature, despite my caution. I felt used to the sight of similar creatures. Although my heart raced when I saw what it had in its hands. A bone. Lifting my lantern I saw the rest of the scavenged body, lying there stripped of all meat.

Red eyes stared at me until it simply looked away disinterested. I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked [Creature Study]. The rat had seen me as a neutral party.

[Trait]: [Creature Study]: [Large Rat] Neutral Disposition

[Trait]: [Creature Study]

You have studied countless creatures throughout your life, now being able to infer certain behaviors, natural defenses, offensive implements, and capabilities. Some creatures sense this and do not see you as a threat.

Effects:

1% Chance to Tame a Creature

3% Chance to be seen as Friendly

10% Chance to Ascertain an Aspect of a Creature

40% Chance to be seen as Neutral

I stared at the rat, having finally a chance to peer at one close up. It was large, again, coming up to my shin. Its incisors were enlarged, denser from what I could tell. Besides that... [Dark Vision].

[Trait]: [Creature Study]: [Large Rat] Aspect Discovered: [Dark Vision]

I blinked at the sudden obvious knowledge, it's red eyes, they must be sensitive to light and able to view things in dim settings easily. Was this that 10% to ascertain an aspect of a creature coming in?

[Skill] Level Up [Genetics] 1

[Skill]: [Genetics] 1

Effects:

1% Increase in efficiency of [Genetics] related tasks

I paused, I could make progress in my [Skills]? It made sense here, I was examing the rat's features after all. Speaking of which, I had to check [Flesh Magic] too. I could feel the knowledge of both [Genetics] and [Flesh Magic] sitting dormant. First, however, the crystals. I needed to make sure I gathered enough.

[Trait]: [Creature Study]: [Large Rat] Neutral Disposition

There were more rats when I went up the tunnel. Only two, but somehow the odds were in my favor. They didn't attack me. More to the point, beside them, there was a large glowing deposit. I took my pickaxe to the crystal and found with a little effort the crystal shattered, its glowing green radiance lighting up my visage. I managed to do so without disturbing the rats, it seemed they were used to the activity.

I found a natural bench in the cave wall and sat there, a rucksack full of crystal. I placed it beside me. Immediately I began to inspect my body with [Flesh Magic] the series of events leading up to me in these tunnels never allowing me the chance previously.

My body was in ruins, malnourished. It was a wonder I could stay standing. My muscles were overworked, ripped apart and never allowed to heal. My body was not getting the nutrients it needed. Sunlight for one. Even my bones had become brittle by lack of necessary nutrients too. It seemed my brain was the only thing that stayed in peak condition, a wonder at that. My knowledge of [Flesh Magic] was little in the way of application, I could do as much as knitting a small cut back closed or encouraging a bruise to heal within the day.

It turned out I had a decent amount of both. I got to work.

It was at some point working so closely with my cells that I found many that didn't belong. Cancerous cells of a sort, except if my understanding was correct, they were more purposeful than that. I could understand the encoded DNA, the genetic instructions. These were poised to generate new growth, so far as I could tell. I spent the next hour purging myself of said cells, they were not all the same, pockets of them existed and each one was for something different. Though, any in-depth analysis was beyond me.

[Skill] Level Up [Genetics] 2

[Skill] Level Up [Flesh Magic] 1

[Skill]: [Genetics] 2

Effects:

2% Increase in efficiency of [Genetics] related tasks

[Skill]: [Flesh Magic] 1

Effects:

1% increase in efficiency of [Flesh Magic] related tasks

It didn't seem like I gained anything particular interesting other than a percentage increase in efficiency for both [Skills]. I did, however, gain some knowledge on these mysterious green crystals. They seemed to promote random mutations one way or the other. Though the effect was truly minor, constant exposure might yield terrifying consequences. Exposure of the kind any down here would be subjected to.

I trekked my way back, feeling my body fail me after a hard day of mining. I had mined a lot of crystal, too many thanks to the rats leaving me alone, enough to be suspicious simply from the disparity of the other prisoners' hauls. I stashed my extra crystals in a nearby cave that had since been excavated, making sure to hide it even then.

"Shinies." The fat thick-skinned overseer slobbered. There was a puddle at his feet. He grabbed my rucksack roughly, nearly sending me forward and to the floor again, which would surely have reopened my cuts and incited my bruises. He grumbled delightedly at the sight. "Good, go." He looked back at me. "Drop." I dropped my pickaxe and lantern and scurried off.

Eventually, I returned to more slop. And again, I was ignored by my tablemates. For some reason, they tended to accept my presence but not acknowledge me. While the members rotated, the glowing man and the scaled one were constants. As was I. This time though, everyone was too tired to speak. Except those two.

"It's a prison, Muse." The scaled one hissed. "They have to let us out eventually."

"Fool." The glowing man responded. "How can you hold your hope so long? Look at you. This is more lab than prison. Testing subjects - prisoners - against that accursed, blasted, green crystal!" Muse sighed, realizing his outburst and deflated. It was only then that I realized his normal demeanor was just that, always deflated, defeated. "We are all dead, Kisz. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you can leave me in peace."

"I will not break, Muse." Kisz hissed softly, determined. "No matter my deformity."

We returned to our cells. It was there, in the dark damp, that I pulled out the glowing green shard.

Chapter 2 - Arrival

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