Jake reappeared at the back of a damp and dim cave. Nausea and dizziness hit him like a train. It was probably a good thing that his stomach was empty.
“Ok, teleporting sucks.”
Once the world stopped spinning he was able to look at his surroundings. He spotted another teleport node in front of him against a cave wall. It was extremely familiar to the previous one in the dungeons core room. The only differences he could see were the intricate carvings. This one had different creatures compared to the other. Most he had no clue what they could be but a few he was familiar with such as goblins and spiders. He touched the node out of curiosity, nothing happened. With Examine he discovered that it was no longer functioning anymore, and figured it was because he had taken away most of the dungeon core which would have been its power supply, probably.
Turning around he was stunned by the scene in front of him. There was a hanging bioluminescent moss that grew from the ceiling and walls. Glowing white crystals broke up the moss in large chunks. Most of the light in the dim cave came from the crystals. His eyes tried to follow the beautiful carpet of moss and crystals further, but the cave turned, leaving only a dim glow.
The growling of his stomach reminded him of the importance of moving on and finding food and water. He took out his knife making his way around the bend before coming to a stop. There was a problem. He couldn’t see anything past the turn. It was pitch black.
“Well shit…”
Turning around, he spent some time trying to harvest some moss thinking it would be easier to harvest and use for some light. The problem was that everytime he got some off the wall it would stop glowing and shrivel in his hand. He tried several different ways but couldn’t get it to work. He even tried to identify the moss but nothing came of it. He could only think that he didn’t have the correct skills or skill level. Without much other choice he moved onto the crystals.
Torch Crystal
A natural crystal that grows in dungeons. It can be used to light your path if fed mana.
“Nice, just what I was looking for. Now how do I get some? It looks really hard.”
After several minutes of bashing on crystals with the back of his knife, he succeeded in breaking off a usable piece. A small golf ball-sized crystal that gave off a slight glow rested in his open palm.
“So I have to feed this mana, huh. Sounds easy, if I knew how to do it,” he grumbled.
After half an hour, the crystal had dimmed significantly and at the same time his frustration grew. He couldn’t seem to figure it out. He tried thinking about wanting to do it, willing it to happen, even tried verbal commands. Nothing seemed to be working. As a last ditch effort, he used Examine, hoping for some sort of hint. As soon as he cast the skill, he felt the warmth move to his eyes again and it hit him.
“I bet that warmth I am feeling is the mana flowing. So if I could….”
After spending another 5 minutes, he was able to adjust the mana path to his hand and into the crystal, causing it to brighten. So bright, in fact, he was sure he would go blind.
“Gahhh!!! Note to self: don’t need that much mana.”
Taking a peek at his sheet he saw that he had spent about 15 mana filling it that bright. He spent a little more time figuring out how to drain the excess mana. He couldn’t take back the mana, but he could force it out with a lot of effort and significant expenditure of mana. Once it was at 5 mana he stopped. It was plenty to see without blinding himself and also dim enough to hopefully not attract too much attention from whatever things were lurking around. With the torch crystal in his left hand and his knife in the other he moved out... again.
“Man this is creepy….”
Jake had been walking down the cave at a slow pace for what felt like hours. He would have liked to have been moving at a faster pace, but with the severe weakness in his body from the malnourished debuff he had to stop and take breaks often. Tying that together with the dim lighting and uneven flooring made for slow going. He had tripped several times, already adding some scrapes and a bloody nose to his repertoire.
“God damnit!! Stupid fucking darkness, stupid fucking floor, stupid fuc…..Is that what I think it is?”
After the most recent meeting between his face and floor he happened to see something inches from his face sticking out of the floor. A small square that stuck unnaturally out of the floor. Sweat dripped down his back as what he saw clicked in his mind.
“I...Is that a.. A pressure plate?”
Slowly and carefully he looked around that section of the cave. Finding hundreds of small holes along both walls just above waist height confirmed that, indeed, what he had found was a trap. There didn’t seem to be any other pressure plates or wires that he could see.
“Ok, I take everything I said about the tripping back. This might have just saved my life. Having luck as one of my highest stats seems to be paying off. Have there been more traps and I missed them completely or is this the first?”
He had two options. One, he could just move on and be more careful or two, he tried to disarm it. The second option was by far more dangerous. He didn’t know enough about traps to know if the arrow holes were the only part of the trap or if there was a safety mechanism of some sort. But thinking about possibly getting a skill or something useful from the trap was just too tempting, and the holes were high enough that they shouldn’t hit him.
“Danger and reward goes hand in hand. At least in this new world, I assume,” sighed Jake.
Laying flat on his stomach inches away from the pressure plate with the wall behind him, Jake took his knife and slowly jimmied it between the plate and the floor. He was able to slowly lift the plate up from the ground. Now, whether it was from inexperience or from the shaking of his hands, this didn’t last long. The plate slipped and fell back down causing a slight clicking noise.
“Fuuuuuuuuck…”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
As soon as he heard the click he started rolling. Stopping 2 meters(6 ft) or so away he looked up. What he saw made him shiver. Not only were both walls covered in arrows but so was the floor. If he hadn’t been paranoid and set to roll away he would have been a porcupine.
“I guess what they say is true. You're only paranoid if you’re wrong…. Well close enough.”
Jake’s nervous giggles echoed quietly through the dark cave. Getting up he took a look at the arrows now protruding from the walls and floor. They weren’t your normal looking arrows. They didn’t seem man made. They weren’t made of metal or wood. They looked like little stalactites. Looking up he could now see the small holes.
“Fuck, that would have hurt.”
Finding that there wasn’t anything he could use because he couldn’t remove the arrows, he moved on, albeit at a much slower pace. He came across several more traps. The next one was another pressure plate but had holes on the roof again, so he decided to leave it. After that, the next one was a tripwire. Something special happened when he found this one.
Ding
Congratulations you have received the Detect Trap Skill!
Detect Trap
Current level: 1
You are able to discover laid traps. The higher level this skill is the easier it is to discover traps.
Effects:
* Able to notice initiate level traps easier
Range: 5 meters
Passive (may require focus)
Sometimes it serves to keep your eyes open!
“Sweet! New skill!”
Looking at the trap again, he could see a very faint red glow and a feeling of danger from it. If he hadn't been paying attention or focused, he didn’t think he would have even noticed it. He was excited by the new skill. This could really help him survive. Though, now that he thought about it, he wondered why he didn’t feel any effect from his dungeon title. It was supposed to increase his perception.
“I guess an extra .2% of nothing is still nothing. Also could just be my exhaustion and physical state.”
Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, he inspected the trap. This one was slightly different. There were no holes on the ceiling or floor. The walls didn’t have holes either but more like vertical slits. Looking through with the torch crystal he could just barely catch the glimpse of giant blades. The wire went into the walls and there didn’t seem to be any way for him to disconnect it so he moved on.
Along the way he came across multiple traps and there were some he was able to attempt disarming. He never succeeded but it wasn’t all for naught. He was able to get not just one new skill, but two.
Congratulations you have received the sub skill Disarm Trap and as such also the main skill Traps!
Traps
Current Level: 1
You are able to place basic traps. The higher level this skill is the less likely it is for your traps to be discovered.
Effects:
* Able to set basic traps
Bunnies Beware!
Disarm Traps
Current Level: 1
You are able to put your knowledge of traps to the test and disable laid traps. The higher the level of this skill the higher chance of successfully disarming traps and the higher chance to retrieve usable parts.
Effects:
* Able to disarm initiate level traps
* Bonus 2% to disarming
* Bonus 1% to retrieving usable parts
Try to keep all your digits!
He had a slightly easier time trying to disarm the traps. His innate instincts had increased. There was a very slight feeling of what was right and what wasn’t in the back of his mind. He got slightly better each time as he figured out how the traps worked. This didn’t mean he succeeded however. He spent several hours moving down the cave and attempting to disarm the traps he felt safe enough to try, which weren’t many. He had been lucky about an hour back and found a small trickle of water down the side of the cave. It had helped him quench his thirst for the first time, giving him a little more energy.
Now, though, something had changed. He could see light coming from up ahead.
“Finally!”
Moving at a slightly faster clip, he made his way towards the end of the cave system. What he saw both amazed and terrified him. A massive cavern sprawled out in front of him. At first he thought he was outside, but on closer inspection the ceiling, which seemed to be thousands of meters tall, there were giant brightly glowing crystals, he assumed to be larger versions of torch crystals. This was amazing in and of itself, but what really amazed him was the fact that there was a massive forest just a couple meters in front of him. The sounds of roars and screeches could be heard deep in the forest. Though this was terrifying, it wasn’t what had terrified him so much. What had his attention was a monstrous spider the size of a horse walking by the entrance.
It was covered in a hard metallicy black carapace. Thick legs sprouted out of its abdomen, each one covered in vicious and jagged spikes. The legs then came to a sharp point that shattered small divots into the stone flooring as it walked. Its front two legs had thin black blades on the underside that looked sharp enough to easily decapitate a grown man with ease. Massive fangs grew from the top of its maw of needle-like teeth. A viscous green fluid dripped from its mouth. He was sure that even if it wasn’t poisonous it still wouldn’t be good to be touched by it. But the worst part was its eyes. Eight crimson beady orbs with pinpoint black pupils all focused on their prey: him. If he had had anything in his bowels or bladder before, he wouldn’t anymore.
The spider hurled itself towards him with a glint of excitement in its eyes.
“FUUUUUUCK, WHY SPIDERS, I FUCKING HATE SPIDERS!!!” Squealed Jake as he turned around and ran as fast as his body could carry him. Which in this case wasn’t very fast. His heart was beating so fast that it seemed to be vibrating. His body screamed at him and his mind was completely blank from fear. The clashing sound of metal on stone and the creatures hissing was getting louder as it approached.
Jake turned his head just as the spider launched at him. His legs tangled, causing him to fall and spin in the air landing on his back with a thud. This saved his life. The spider landed over him, its bladed arms passing just over his head. Jake’s head in turn smacked hard against the ground, dazing him. The pressure plate under his head clicked. Before the spider had any time to react, spears shot out of the ground and into its soft underbelly, pinning it to the ceiling.
Jake wasn’t lucky enough to be unaffected by this. Sharp pain brought him out of his daze. A spear had slashed deeply through his side and another pierced his calf. Considering he was still alive, he had been very lucky. He started to get light headed as blood started to pool underneath him. He struggled to reach into his makeshift sling pack and pulled out the potion, which somehow was in a single piece. Popping the cork, he chugged it down and his cold body started to warm back up as the wound on his side started to close at a pace visible to the naked eye.
His leg wound tried closing but was prevented by the wooden spear stuck through his calf. Leaning forward he tried to break it but it didn’t budge and the struggle just caused more pain. He looked at the knife on the ground and then at his bleeding calf. With a look of determination he gritted his teeth, grabbed the knife and started to saw at his calf to free it from the spear. Weak hissing coming from the barely alive spider, wet sawing and the pained grunts were the only noises that could be heard in the cave. Once he was free, he leaned against a spear as the potion took effect and started to close the wound on his leg. The pain slowly faded until it was no more. Looking up, he noticed that the spider was still alive, if only barely. He stabbed the knife into the spider's brain from under its jaw, finally putting it out of its misery.
Ding!
Congratulations you have leveled! Live Strong and Survive!
He slid back down the spear and sat with his arms around his knees and cried. This was real.