Cass walked as quietly as her injured body would allow, weaving between the narrow stalks of tall mushrooms along the sides of the chasm. Another group of cockroaches waited ahead. Four more.

She held her breath. Would she need to turn around? If there was a Lookout she wasn’t going to make it past. If there was a Lookout or even a particularly perceptive Lesser she might die here.

She identified each, one after the other.

Lesser Titan Roach (Lvl 4)

Lesser Titan Roach (Lvl 12)

Lesser Titan Roach (Lvl 7)

Lesser Titan Roach (Lvl 8)

None were a Lookout, but level 12 was the highest-level cockroach she’d yet seen. Would it have a higher Per than its fellows? Would it see her? Would it smell the blood still oozing from her arm? Could roaches smell? They didn’t have noses…

She shook her head. She needed to focus. She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t go back.

She crept around the edge of the cavern, like a ghost. Every step was a gamble against odds she had no way to calculate. How good was her stealth exactly? According to Cass’s Earth sensibilities, she was just tiptoeing down the hall, nothing should stop someone from seeing her amid the glowing fungus and their shadows.

Sure, her footfalls were silent to her ears, but what good was that if something needed only to glance in her direction to spot her? And yet, nothing did.

Another step. And another.

Stealth promised she’d go unnoticed, but what authority did a skill really have? How could it know more than she did? She shunted that thought to the side. It wasn’t a worry she had the space for now.

The breeze around her, generated and guided by Stealth, reassured her that she was safe. That she was wrapped in a cocoon none could penetrate. She didn’t know how that worked, only that it was far more fragile than the skill wanted her to believe. Had the boar earlier not noticed her through it?

Another step.

The cockroaches hadn’t moved. Not toward her. Their antenna twitched, but it was the same idle movement they’d been at since the beginning. It definitely wasn’t toward her. It definitely wasn’t because of her. They couldn’t see her. Not without a Lookout.

Her body hurt. The tension from walking in such a controlled manner wasn’t helping. Every step sent pangs up her spine. She wanted to wince and to cry and to complain. She didn’t dare.

Another step.

They were behind her now, but it was too soon to celebrate. A clumsy step would still be heard at this distance. She couldn’t scuff her boots over the hard stone or splash into any of the low-lying puddles. She needed to avoid the squelching mud and the dry plant debris blown down from the forest far above.

Another and another step.

Finally, the cockroaches were out of sight and Cass allowed herself a relieved sigh. She leaned heavily on her staff, wishing the blood oozing down her arm would stop.

She needed to find somewhere to rest and she needed it now. Somewhere the cockroaches couldn’t get her and she could rest until her wounds closed up.

Her eyes scanned the walls as she walked. Eventually, she found a crack in the wall just barely wide enough for her to fit into that opened up into a small cave. It was a little over waist height off the ground and took some effort to climb up into and then to shimmy through the narrow opening. But that just meant it would be even more difficult for man-sized cockroaches to get into.

Once inside, she could feel her skill, Set Camp, appreciatively evaluating the site. She dropped her sleeping mat on the floor and propped her staff beside the entrance, before flopping onto the mat.

All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep, but that had to wait. She needed to set camp first, and that meant a fire.

She arranged a couple of loose stones into a ring beside the entrance and dropped the collection of Flintshrooms she’d shoved in a pocket into the center. It was time to see how flammable these were. She used the Focus she’d recovered while walking to light her fire, watching the mushrooms spring up into little, but hot, flames with ease.

Set Camp has increased to level 4.

Foraging has increased to level 4.

She lay on her mat for a minute, soaking up the feeling of safety her skill created and the increased Focus regeneration camp provided, before shaping a bowl and filling it with Elemental Manipulation. She then set about cleaning her wounds and staff with the water.

When her wounds had been cleaned and her staff no longer had cockroach guts hanging from it, she forced herself to eat another vineroot potato, one of the ones she’d pre-roasted at her last campsite.

Only then, did she let herself collapse into a dreamless sleep.

***

Cass woke up sometime later to the sound of clicking. She didn’t know how long she’d been out. It was hard to tell at the best of times with the heavy clouds. It was impossible underground.

A glance at her status and a general appraisal of her body suggested it had been more than a couple of hours, though.

Stamina: 33/33

Focus: 117/117

Health: 13/26

Health had gone down again in trade for healing her wounds. The gouge from the boar was completely closed, as had the long gash down her arm from the cockroaches and her bruising had faded to mild aches.

But her Health was rather low now, she needed to be more careful.

She shook her head. As if she wasn’t careful already?

The fire had burned down to coals, the flintshrooms completely unrecognizable in her fire pit as ashy lumps. It was still surprisingly warm beside them, even though it was only embers now.

It was probably time to move on. She was rested. She was healed. She did not want to stay underground any longer than she had to.

She packed up and crept up to the entrance to her camp. She started to peer around the corner but stopped at the last second. She flared Atmospheric Sense instead, pushing it to the limits.

There was a lot of air movement. Something big with a lot of legs was moving down the corridor walking toward the cockroaches she had passed earlier, away from the passages she had yet to explore.

She tested Mana Sense next. Unlike Atmospheric Sense which felt almost more like sound, providing information in all directions as long as air connected it, Mana Sense was more like vision, or an overlay for her vision. She had a dim feeling for magic behind her, the same way one might be able to identify a lamp behind them, but for the most part, she could observe Mana best in front of her.

That being said, the wall was barely an obstruction to Mana Sense, being all but inert. She could see Mana through it easily. It gave her a hint at the shape of her large moving creature in the corridor outside.

It was long, like a snake. And it had a lot of Mana available. The thing glowed orange and angry in her sight.

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Mana Sense has increased to level 4.

Stealth has increased to level 6.

A level for Stealth? Why? Was it as simple as she had figured out how to gather information on something without exposing herself?

She’d puzzle it out later, she decided as she poked her head around the corner, now certain that the thing’s head was nowhere nearby.

If she hadn’t already seen the man-sized cockroaches, Cass might have screamed. If Cass was any more squeamish around bugs, she might have screamed anyway. As it was, Cass took a deep, steadying breath and darted back into hiding.

The largest centipede to ever exist was pounding down the corridor. It was huge. Wider than the roaches. Wider than a car. Wider than a two-lane road. Its girth filled the corridor to bursting, its millions of legs rubbing up against the cavern’s sides.

Its carapace was a dusty brown. Its legs shining black.

It moved silently except for the quiet click of its legs against the stone floor.

She glanced out one more time.

Identify!

Ancient Centipede (Herald of the Deep)

Lvl 25

[The Lord of the Deep has many servants, none so powerful as the Ancient Centipede. This being’s carapace is as hard as stone and its venom burns like lightning. All that falls into its grasp is prey before it.]

Sub-quest found!

Beginner Sub-quest: Defeat the Lords’ Heralds

[No Lord is unprotected and each Lord has treasures they value almost as much as their own lives. Defeat each Herald or take their treasure for yourself to grow your power.

Reward: Granted per defeated Herald or stolen Herald treasure. 0 of 3 collected.]

Cass took another deep breath. This was just the mini-boss? She pulled up the related quest.

Beginner Quest (6): Slay the Lord of the Deep

[In the darkest crevasses of this world lies the worst of beasts. Slay their lord and prove your dedication.

Reward: All Beginner Bonuses become Inherent Traits]

If the mini-boss was level 25, how strong was the boss? Level 30? Level 40?

She looked at her own measly level 6 and shuddered again. What was the average level of this world? If “beginner” missions had her fighting monsters in the 30s or above, how powerful was the average person? Was hundreds normal then? Several hundred?

How weak and insignificant was her level 6? How weak was Earth in comparison?

She was stuck with her thoughts as she waited for the centipede to pass. She couldn’t kill the centipede. That was obvious. But the quest said “defeat” not “slay”. There was a difference, though she still didn’t know what it was.

Additionally, she just needed to steal its treasure. That had to be easier than defeating the thing.

Then again, it wasn’t important. The quests were incidental. They weren’t her goal. Her goal was to get home. To survive and to get home.

But could she survive if she couldn’t complete them? If the average person could kill these kinds of monsters, what was to stop them from accidentally crushing her? Would anyone take her seriously?

She shook that thought away. Why would martial power matter? On Earth, the ability to kill someone seldom came up. Why would it be any different here? There was law and order. There had to be. She might not be a citizen of wherever she’d ended up, but she should still be able to expect a certain degree of grace.

She would survive. She would find someone who could get her home. She would go home.

She needed a distraction. The centipede was still outside.

Oh! Stat points. She had 4 Free Points available! She could place those. She pulled up her stats.

Str - 7 Dex - 12 End - 11

Wll - 18 Ala - 14 Res - 13

Frt - 7 Per - 9 Vit - 7

Free Points: 4

She considered her last fights with the boar and the cockroaches. What could she have used more of? Her Strength and Dexterity were just fine. Each successful strike on the roaches had been a kill. She shouldn’t expect one-shot kills on everything she ran up against, the roaches had exceptionally low Fortitude as far as she could tell, but she hadn’t struggled to break the bones of the boar on the surface either.

She’d been fast and dexterous enough to dodge all but the tracking spells, with the help of Dodge, and more Dexterity wouldn’t have made a significant difference against those.

How could she have handled those better? Dodging them was beyond her. She’d needed to block them somehow. Her wind wall with Elemental Manipulation had been pretty effective, but what would she do about other ranged attacks? Would a wall of air be enough?

The issue wasn’t the ranged wind blades, so much as it was the unexpected attack. She needed a bigger buffer in which she could either avoid or soak up damage while she figured out what was going on and what she would do about it.

Second was her energy, both her Stamina and her Focus. That last fight with the cockroaches had been the longest so far, and it had nearly drawn everything she had. She still didn’t know what would happen if she ran out of either, but the best case was she’d be too tired to move, worst case she straight up died. Most likely, she passed out. Either way, if there was something mean lurking around when they ran out, she would die.

And maybe, if she had a real ranged attack, she wouldn’t need to worry about either concern too much. If she’d been able to shoot the roaches from outside their range it wouldn’t have even been a fight. But she didn’t know how to make that happen. The cockroaches knew how, but she didn’t.

Was it that they had a skill for it? Did she just need more of one of the mental stats, like Wll or Res? Was Ala in between them also a mental stat? Was it the answer? How did one increase the range of the Focus or Mana or whatever it was one could control?

Cass didn’t feel any closer to an answer as she stared at her options.

End, Res, Frt, Vit? One each? Just End? Just Frt? Just Vit?

Bet on Wll, Ala, or Res granting her a ranged attack?

Once again, she wished she had someone to explain the pros and cons of each. What would she give to understand the theories on proper stat distribution? She’d never missed game wikis so much as she did now. Or other people. Or not needing to worry about whether her ‘build’ was optimal.

Hell with it, one each. She couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore. Was that wrong? Was it inoptimal? No amount of theorizing about it on her own would give her a better answer. The only thing definitely wrong would be to not spend them.

End 11 -> 12

Res 13 -> 14

Frt 7 -> 8

Vit 7 -> 8

The stats soaked into her body. She felt more solid. Sturdier.

Not heavier exactly, but more substantive. More real.

The centipede was still outside, powering down the corridor on its endless legs. Did it have an end? Was it just an infinitely long monster? What was possible here?

The clicking continued, fast and furious and endless, a thousand feet carrying down the cavern. Until, finally, she saw the twin tail of the monster, segmented like the legs beneath it, pass and the click of those thousand legs faded into the distance.

She hesitated a moment in the doorway of her side cave, just to be certain it wasn’t coming back, not daring to move a muscle.

It was too big to turn around in this cavern. It couldn’t come back, the logical voice in her head assured her.

But what if it does? pure paranoia whispered.

Cass quieted the thoughts with a deep breath. It wasn’t coming back. Not right away. Not right now. And it was loud. She would hear the click of its feet over the stone floors before she saw it.

She forced herself to step back out into the main cavern. The centipede only reinforced her desire to get the hell out of these caves. This was not a place she wanted to stay.

She activated Stealth and slunk down the corridor, opposite the direction the centipede had gone.

She watched her surroundings carefully, cycling between actively watching Atmospheric Sense and Mana Sense. She was pretty sure she could run both at once but it was hard to do while also focusing on moving like a ghost. She figured it was better to do both well one at a time in quick succession than both just okay all the time.

She didn’t find any more roaches, which was just fine by her. There were some more beetles that didn’t have any Earth counterpart as far as she knew as well as several spiders the size of cats. They ranged in level from as low as 3 to as high as 18, most falling around 13. She gave all of them wide berth, and either they didn’t see her through her Stealth or were uninterested in her as they let her pass.

Eventually, she came to another fork in the path. It was an open room with a high ceiling. Three wide passages forked off of it, including the one Cass stood in. Dozens of smaller paths also dotted the walls, some at ground level, others yards up the walls. Some of these were person-sized, others as small as Cass’s fist.

At a glance, there was no obvious difference in the paths besides size. Some slanted up, others down. Some were dark, some illuminated with glowing shrooms and moss, most were somewhere in between.

She flared Atmospheric Sense, pushing it as far as she could reach. She was pleased to discover she could tell which paths ended in dead ends quickly. The vast majority of the small paths were dead-ends. A couple joined wider paths again before long, most one of the two in front of her if she was reading the airflow correctly.

The major paths both continued far beyond what Cass could sense, however, they both possessed hints at what might be ahead. The air in the right-hand path felt stagnant and thick. Something hung in it. Oppressive and hot. The air of the left path picked up speed as it moved away from Cass. It was free, running to an open space, not outside just yet, but perhaps far closer than she’d been.

Atmospheric Sense has increased to level 5.

It seemed an obvious answer as to which way to go to get out. But Cass found herself hesitating. The sub-quest flickered at the edge of her mind. As obvious as the left path seemed to be the way out, the right path seemed the obvious path toward the centipede’s lair.

It would be safer to leave of course. She had no idea what the reward for stealing the thing’s treasure would be. Or even what its treasure might look like. Hell, it was a monster, there was no guarantee that the treasure was even something a human would value.

But she knew where the centipede was. It had gone into cockroach territory. Presumably, it would be distracted with the things for at least a little while. Wasn’t this a chance? The rewards could help her survive better.

Or it could get her killed.

No, the smart thing to do was to leave quickly and quietly, and then…

And then what? Sneak through the rest of the forest? Hope she didn’t run into any other Heralds or their Lords or any monster more than three levels over her own? Hope she would run into people who could help her? Hope they’ll help her from the goodness of their hearts?

What choices…

She couldn’t have said which thought was the deciding one, just that her first foot forward routed her right. Right into the lair of the Centipede.