Chapter 3: Preparations.

I don’t know if Anansi could feel my desperation or if he just understood the situation we were in, but he matched my will for haste without hesitation. We zipped through the air, from tree to tree without delay and when we made it back to the oasis, the little fella hopped off my wrist and stumbled towards the mantis’ corpse. I supposed that the rapid and ceaseless use of his webbing had tired him out. I felt guilty for putting him through such an ordeal without considering what it might do to him, and if I didn’t have a creature in dire straits strapped to my back, I probably would have gone over to comfort my little buddy.

The earth near the waterfall’s basin had thicker and softer grass, so I decided to deposit the slumbering feline over there. The webs Anansi had used to affix him to my back, shrugged off with ease and I gently lowered the cat person down to the soft ground. Looking him over, I saw that he was young, almost a kitten. At just over four foot tall he reminded me of a vulnerable child and thinking about having to pull a crossbow bolt out of his furry black leg made my blood boil.

“You’re safe now.” I whispered, scratching behind the cat boy’s ear. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

His sleeping form brought me back to a place I kept locked away. The painful memories flashed through my mind as I inspected his emaciated frame. Through the soft fur I felt arms that were practically devoid of muscle and when I removed his rags, I found filthy matted fur that twinged my nose with its sour aroma. I brought the cat closer to the basin’s edge and began scooping water out with my hands to wash away the filth.

As I washed him, I began to sing. “Everybody wants to be a cat.” Tears formed in my eyes as the present merged with the past. “Because a cats the only cat, that knows where it’s at.” Before I knew it, I was back in my family home sponging down my little brother. “When playing jazz, you always has a welcome mat. ‘cause everybody digs a swinging cat.”

By the time I was finished washing away the blood and filth, tears streamed freely down my cheeks. My little bro was in a much worse condition than the cat that slept in my arms, regardless of that fact, I still felt as helpless as I did back then. I would sing him his favourite song from his favourite film, he’d call me O’Malley and I’d call him Berlioz. We had a great few years together before the cancer had gotten the best of him and I had never been closer to anyone else in my life. I made a promise to myself in that moment, I would care for the cat in my arms and give him the life I could never give to my little bro.

Drying my eyes I stood. “Listen little guy, I’m gunna call you Berlioz and when you wake up, we’re gunna be the best of friends.”

I walked away from the cat boy and over to Anansi, who was angrily scraping at the giant blade mantis’ lower section.

“What’s up buddy?” I asked feeling his excitement at my approach.

He made me feel claustrophobic and frustrated at the same time.

“Can’t you get to that bit?”

He danced around on the spot.

“Ok, ok. I got you buddy.”

I stabbed my spear into the mantis and before I managed to return the spear to my sling the spider had climbed inside the giant bug. The wave of pleasure he sent me made my mouth water and I was one intrusive thought away from digging into the bug myself. With my best spider buddy having his fill of mantis guts, my thoughts went to Berlioz, the cat boy would need something to eat soon, and I needed to hunt.

I wasn’t sure about the inner workings of my authority, I understood that it caused intense fear for predators outside it’s bounds, but I had seen birds perching on trees within its zone and figured that maybe I could find some prey somewhere in the safe zone. Leaving Anansi to his well-deserved meal I took off, this time to the right of the waterfall. I slowly wandered through the forest for a while, paying close attention to my surroundings, scanning the ground and plant life around me for any signs of life. At first my ears only picked up the usual sounds of bird song and the wind rustling through the leaves, but soon I heard another source of running water. In the near distance I could hear the familiar crashing of a waterfall but as well as that, the racing of a river could be heard. As I drew closer to the second waterfall, evidence of life began to show.

Broken stems, half eaten leaves and what looked like large rat droppings lead me to another clearing similar to my oasis. This clearing however was flooded. I drew low as I approached the swampy area and took care not to be noticed. Inspecting the waterfall’s basin, I saw identical reeds to my own, but these reeds had been nibbled on. Each one of the water-storing reeds had a few bites out of them and were spraying like broken faucets. The flow of the reeds had caused the area to flood and had generated multiple tributaries. Unfortunately, the swampy ground was too thick and muddy for me to attempt to wade through and I had lost hope of finding whatever creature had lead me there, that was until I turned around.

“Oh man, I can’t do this.” I whispered to myself as a capybara innocently looked up at me.

It had to be natures friendliest giant rodent. The docile thing just gazed at me without a shred of fear or anxiety, just curiosity and kindness twinkling in it big black eyes. I pulled out my spear and it cocked its oversized head to the side.

“I don’t want to do this.” I sighed. “But Berlioz needs to eat and all I know is that cats need meat.”

At the sound of my voice, it drew closer as if it wanted to die.

“Why can’t you attack me or something.”

I almost shooed it away, but I had to do it. my heart raced faster than ever before and I had fought a teleporting boar, three acid spitting ants, crawled out of a giant mantis’ and been un-consensually skull fucked by a vampiric root, but murdering an innocent creature was by far the worst thing I had experienced that day.

Congratulations you have successfully tracked your prey and have gained the following: tracking, hunting.

The skill was great and all, but the way the notification was worded showed that what I did was most definitely murder and I think the ease in which my spear head pierced the capybara’s grey matter also compounded the guilt I felt. I had to tell myself it was just an animal as I lifted it up and carried its corpse home with me.

When I arrived home Anansi was still going to town on the mantis, and I had to call him three times before he came to me. I asked the spider to just drink the blood from the creature and he actually turned his tiny little nose up at me, hitting me with a feeling of disgust and shame for bringing him such a meagre prize. With plan A for draining the poor rodents’ fluids shot down, I resorted to plan B. I wasn’t sure how I felt about using the vampiric root again, but it was desperate times, and I was a desperate man. The needle tip spike slid through the capybaras flesh with ease, piercing its heart and extracting its sanguine nutrients. In the palm of my hand, I felt the root pulse as it drank and within minutes it was done. When I began skinning and gutting the creature there was barly an ounce of blood left in its entire body.

To wash the creature, I used the reed that had blasted me in the face earlier, it was actually I brilliant jet washer although it did take some time to empty out after I had removed it from the water. The last thing I had to do was build a fire and a suitable spit. it took some time to find enough large rocks around the mountains edge to build the desired base for my bonfire but when I piled up the last rock I received a sweet surprise.

Congratulations you have successfully gathered basalt rocks and have gained the following: gathering.

“Finally.” I cheered and then my mind sparked with hope.

Basalt was rich in iron so perhaps there was iron to be had in the heart of this mountain that stood before me. a mining skill would be a fucking must. Shaking off my revery I took to organising my rocks and shaving down some of my spare wood. The wood shaving were deposited between the rocks and before I knew it my fire was ready to light. A flint would have been great but instead I had to rub two sticks together. Five minutes later I had the fire going and the capybara roasting on a spit. For a bit of added flavour, I stuffed a few healing pears inside the thing and after a long while of rotating the rodent on my perfectly crafted spit I received yet another welcomed surprise.

Congratulations, you have successfully prepared roasted capybara (fine) and have gained the following: cooking.

Four skills for one simple task of feeding my cat bro, I really couldn’t complain. With the smell of the fine quality roasted rodent in the air I went over to Berlioz to check if his state had changed. He still lay peacefully at the water’s edge, and I found myself in a state of worry. I wanted to be there when he woke, I wanted to make him feel safe but at the same time I wanted to prepare for the end of the integration period. The planets that shed light from the abyss above had started to lower and the distant horizon had begun to grow brighter, signalling that my time was running out.

Even though I had been at it nonstop for hours since I had been brought to the system, I wasn’t tired or hungry at all. I felt like I could run back-to-back marathons without tiring and that thought gave me an idea.

Congratulations, you have successfully broken the human record for metres sprinted and have gained the following: athletics.

That one felt good. I instantly became more sure-footed, and I was sure I was suddenly stronger. All I had to do was sprint in a wide circle for thirty minutes and that beautiful jingle sounded in my brain. The only downside to my success was that I was absolutely drenched in sweat. Needing to wash I took off my clothes and realised that I had been walking around a completely ruined T-shirt and vest. Blood stains mixed with dried on mud and both of them bore multiple large holes from the acid that was spat at me and the tusks that skewered me. checking over my trousers, I saw that they were similarly ruined, even my underwear were wrecked from when the ant bit a chunk out of my ass. Jumping in the basin I considered what I could do about my sudden lack of clothing. I couldn’t cut the iron side boar’s flesh, and I really didn’t want to slaughter anymore capybaras, perhaps I could fashion something out of the mantis.

I swam for a good few minutes, allowing my thoughts to roam free while keeping clear of the swirling roots of the water reeds and when I climbed back out of the basin, there were a pair of bright blue feline eyes staring at my naked form.

“Oh hey, Berlioz you’re awake.” I said grinning gleefully.

The cat boy looked around and then pointed to himself.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling you while you slept. Do you have a name?”

He let out an odd mew that I had no chance of replicating, and the air grew awkward for a moment as I wondered if he could even understand me.

“Hey, I’m just gunna find something to cover myself up with. I made some food for you, so just dig in and I’ll be back in a bit.”

Berlioz purred at the sight of the roasted rodent and bowed to me before slowly approaching it. walking back to the mantis I found Anansi sleeping on the big insect’s head and had to shake his little body to rouse him. Once awake he climbed back onto my wrist and closed his eyes once more.

“Hey buddy.” I said waking the spider, receiving a wave of annoyance in return. “I know you’re tired, but my clothes are fucked any chance you could help me patch them up.”

Grumpy impatience flooded my system as the spider climbed up to my shoulder and stretched its long legs. What he did next both tickled and amazed me. soft and silky webbing released from his spinneret as he raced around my top half weaving a snug and comfortable long-sleeved shirt. He then did the same to my bottom section being sure to make the tights he wove thick enough to hide my modesty. It took him all of three minutes to dress me in the most comfortable silk I have ever adorned, well it was the only silk I have ever worn but regardless the clothes felt amazing. My feet felt free yet protected and my limbs had more flexibility than they had in my lose fitted gear, sure I didn’t have any pockets, but I could remedy that with my utility belt and a new vest, I might even be able to make something with those water reeds. After he had finished, he took to my wrist and fell into a deep sleep.

“Thanks bud.” I said, stroking his back. “You really are good to me you know.”

Seeing as I was dressed and felt less exposed, I approached Berlioz with a smile. The four foot cat person was tearing meat from the spit and devouring it with a delighted look on his feline face but froze when he saw me.

“Hey, hey.” I said softly, slowing my movements. “We’re all friends here no one’s gunna hurt you.” I drew close enough to reach behind his ear and gave him a gentle scratch. “I’m gunna look after you ok. You can call this place home.”

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Berlioz purred deeply and I petted him like the good little kitten he was. After he was fed, I told him all about my experience, The mantis, the boar, the bastard root and how I came to find him. He listened to every word and even let out a chuckle when I described my futile attempt at slashing the iron hide boars side wile it dangled above me.

A short while later we walked together through my zone of authority and when we reached its edge he stumbled back in fear. It upset me to see the look of abject terror on his face but at the same time, it filled me with pride to know he felt safe in my little oasis. We walked for a few more hours, slowly surveying the entirety of the protected zone. It didn’t feel like a waste of time to me and even when the blazing orange sun reached its zenith I wasn’t concerned about the loss of my immortality. It honestly felt like I had a mute younger brother and together we discovered everything my area held. There were more prey animals and no predators, which I found might become a problem if I didn’t hunt them periodically, but I supposed I could always use their corpses as bait to lure an enemy in for a drop attack.

We also found that the rivers that flowed from the swamp lands continued far beyond our visual limits which gave me the hope of finding a safe way in and out of the forest without having to tire Anansi. Soon we grew bored of searching high and low and took to gathering the nibbled reeds, while we did so more capybaras showed up and I had to wonder if I had murdered their loved one. We gathered over thirty of the reeds and cut their tops and emptying the gallons of water in each. We aimed each reed at the edges of the thin tributaries, widening them into one large mainstem that flowed beautifully and matched the speed at which the water fell. I hoped that in time the swampy ground would dry out, now that it was no longer being actively flooded.

Returning home with the reeds we laid them out and Berlioz looked at me expectantly as if I had some kind of master plan. Desperate not to disappoint him I picked one up and inspected it. I thanked the system for the herbology skill when ideas started pouring in. With my mantis machete I cut the root away saving it for later and sliced the hollow reed down it’s centre. I then began to slice the reed into ribbons. When I was done, I took the ribbons and wove them together. The intricate weaving was only possible with the combination of deep analysis, herbology and artificing and the look of aw on Berlioz’s face made everything I had been through worthwhile. I had only used one reed so what I made was small, regardless of its size the crisscrossing pattern matched Anansi’s flare with weaving and the little green pouch was perfect.

Standing with the pouch in one hand and my machete in the other I put it to the test. The blade almost cut the rim of the pouch as I pushed it in but apart from the near miss my idea worked perfectly. The two-inch back bag stored the eighteen-inch machete in an incomprehensible dimensional space. Although the bag was delicate on the outside, I knew it would be able to store a triggered grenade safely within its void, granted if anyone ever removed the grenade they would be in for a big surprise. Sure, that it would be safe I allowed Berlioz to remove the machete, and he smiled wide as he pulled the thing out.

“Pretty neat, isn’t it.” I laughed. “Want me to teach you?”

At first it was a slow process with tonnes of mistakes and a few lost reeds but after Berlioz got into the rhythm of it, he made three perfect pouches without aid. I got him a mantis spike and fashioned a dagger out of it, so he could continue the repetitive yet therapeutic task and began my own project.

I wanted to surprise my little cat bro with gear to protect himself so while he weaved away, I grabbed the prepared pouches and took to the iron hide bag of mantis spikes. Two daggers were better than one so that was my first job. I took care with the second dagger and etched a spider web design into its hilt to match the webbing Anansi had provided to affix the two mantis parts together. Next, I made him a spear that was almost identical to mine expect for its shorter length and while I was there, I transferred all the spikes from the bag to the pouch. When I damaged the pouch with one of the jagged spikes, Anansi covered its rim in webbing and suddenly the thing was impervious to spikes intimidating sharpness. Letting the sudden intrusive thought win I turned the last spike on myself and pushed it as hard as I could and nothing happened, no matter how hard I tried the dangerous to the touch spike couldn’t pierce the silken top.

“Wow, Anansi I didn’t know you could do that.” I said lovingly stroking the world’s greatest spider friend. “Did you get any abilities from that ant you ate.”

He made me feel hungry.

“You needed to eat more, huh. We can go out now if you want, Berlioz is safe and its bright out.”

I suddenly craved mantis brain.

“Is that all that’s left of it? well shit, why didn’t you tell me earlier.”

I rushed over and took a dagger to the mantis’ skull where a pulsating grey orb lay.

“Anansi that Is not a brain.”

He tried to explain with a confusing mix of pride and oneness. The oneness was an amazing feeling that I would really have to get him to repeat later but I really wanted to know what the orb was.

“Can you still eat it if I take it out?”

I welcomed the familiar positivity and pulled out the grey orb. My mind fucking blew.

Congratulations, you have successfully harvested monster core (epic) and have gained the following: core mechanics.

With the removal of the core came the knowledge of how the monsters of the system generated. Every one of them including Anansi and Berlioz started out as an atom gathering energy from their surroundings and through the manipulation of the system thy were formed into these intelligent beings. With this knowledge I learned that if I could meet the right conditions then I could actually help guide the process further, and the first step was having Anansi consume that core.

“Fucking have at it, little buddy.”

He danced his spider dance, nommed the monster core directly from my palm and then crawled onto my wrist for a nap.

“That’s it bud, you grow stronger.” I said stoking his form with a grin. “I can’t wait to see what you become.”

Berlioz had taken to weaving with gusto and was three reeds away from finishing when I returned. Not wanting to distract him from his focus I inspected the pouches he had made; each one was a perfect replica of the first one I had made, and I was proud of the little guy. Even though deep down I knew he was a system generated monster I still felt like he and my spider buddy were more than just magical creatures, after all, humans merely started off as sperm cells didn’t they. My jumbled thoughts were pushed aside when Berlioz’s eyes glazed over before he jumped up and let out a cheery mew. Laid before him were three more perfect little pouches.

“Did you just gain a skill?”

He nodded.

“That’s fantastic.” I said scratching behind his ear. “Well done, kid. I’m proud of you.”

For a short while I embraced him, and he purred softly in my arms while stroked his little head. He was family to me now and so was Anansi, the three of us would survive this rain forest hellscape and learn to thrive together.

Pulling back, I said. “Oh, I made these for you.”

I presented two web-rimmed pouches, and he reached in the first to discover the spear.

“There’s another dagger in the other one.” I said smiling as I watched him twirl the spear. “We’ve got to go back where I found you, and I really want you to be safe.”

His eyes went wide and his pupils dilatated as he nervously stared in the indicated direction.

“you’ll be ok. I’ll protect you, plus now we have these pouches we can collect more of those healing pears.”

I gave me a solemn nod and I thought of one last idea.

I watched from my perch on the branch of a healing pear tree as Berlioz easily leapt the distance. Dressed in the same pale grey silken armour as me, he looked like an acrobat as he grabbed vines and swung through the air reaching a pear tree, I would have had trouble zipping to. We had stripped every tree we could find on our way to the area I had found him in and still had more room than we could possibly fill, in the pouches we had strapped to chests. The extra dimensional spaces were timeless, nothing could rot or wear no matter how long it stayed inside. With luck and possibly some kind of farming skill I’d be able to plant a grove of these trees within the bounds of my authority.

Before we had left, I had asked Anansi to make a few adjustments to the pouches we made, and he did not let me down. It turned out that my friendly neighbourhood spider guy was quite the artist. Showing him the healing pears, he went above and beyond, encasing the pouches in webbing that clung only to the bandoliers he had made for us and detailing them with perfectly woven renditions of the pears. The best thing was that he could change the colouring of his webbing, so when I saw the little red pears stitched into the casings of the pouches, I practically begged him to do the same for our weapons. On either side of my hips rested black pouches marked with white machetes and on my back was strapped my dagger pouch. My spear pouch rested on my left side and Berlioz’s layout was much the same. I had promised the cat boy that I would find a way to craft him a pair of swords that equalled my machetes, but he just gripped the spear I gave him and shook his head.

Inspired by Berlioz’s graceful movements, I decided I wanted an acrobatics skill and gave it a go. Leaping and grabbing hold of a vine, that I realised I had made a grave mistake. I swung through the air at an exhilarating speed, let go of the vine and reached for an another and before I could do the classic Tarzan yell, I plummeted. I went from Tarzan to George of the jungle as I crashed into a tree and fell backwards landing headfirst on the ground. My face was in the mud while my neck was bent all the way back and definitely broken. Berlioz dropped down and panicked at the sight of me. When my body flopped over the broken bones knitted back together and I stood patting myself down.

“Maybe I’ll try that in a safer environment next time.” I laughed before zipping back up to safer heights.

With the embarrassing episode over we hurried along to the sight of the dead ants and there we found even more of the acid spitting monsters. This time there were four of them, three workers and one twice the size, that I could only assume was a dreaded soldier ant.

From our hight in the trees we couldn’t be seen and I hoped that I couldn’t be heard as I turned to Berlioz’s

“I’m going to try something stupid.” I said placing my hand on his shoulder “Whatever you do, don’t try to help me.”

With the help of Anansi, I lowered myself down to the ground hiding in the nearby shrubbery. The three worker ants were busying themselves, breaking down and consuming the ones I had previously killed that day. Whispering my plan to Anansi the spider crawled off my arm and up to a nearby tree. Doing my best to think the sneakiest of sneaky thoughts, I crept into position and less than a second later my spider returned to me. The clear ground between me and my foes felt both too short and too long for my idea to work, but clearing my doubts aside, I let out a sigh and went for it. Reaching into the pouch at my back I withdrew my dagger, and my spider attached a string to it, next I through the web bearing blade as hard as I could. The jagged dagger flew true and pierced the back of the closest worker ant’s head.

Congratulations, you have slain acid spitter ant (worker) and have gained the following: medium experience, sneak, knife throwing, sneak attack.

“Believe it!” I yelled channelling my inner Naruto.

The remaining ants turned towards me and practically vibrated with rage. Simultaneously they spat their nasty green gobs at me and my body reacted instinctively. I rolled back and pushing up with one hand I turned my roll into a cartwheel, when my foot touched the ground, I span with a pirouette and yanked the thrown dagger back to me. The blade returned to me before the acid hit the ground and I had hoped to have thrown the jagged thing once more, but the ants proved to be too fast.

One worker charged while the other spat, and the soldier merely watched waiting for an opening. The speed at which the ant moved was astounding but I was prepared.

Withdrawing my spear I roared. “Come get me big boy.”

With my taunt uttered, I ran towards the ant and just when it was closing in, it fell for my trap. The ant’s body was cut in two as it charged into the thin razor-sharp translucent web that Anansi had strung between the two trees either side of me.

Congratulations, you have slain acid spitter ant (worker) and have gained the following: medium experience.

Before the notification sounded, I zipped up into the air and grabbing a vine to halt my momentum I pushed myself back down with my spear tip aimed at the third worker ants back. The blade punctured the monster’s carapace, and I drove it deep through its guts and out the other end.

Congratulations, you have slain acid spitter ant (worker) and have gained the following: medium experience.

Leaving my spear inside the ant I leaped off it and pulled out my machetes. Up close the soldier ant was pretty damn huge and if it wasn’t for my invulnerability, I’m not sure if I would have had the courage to face it. Green gelatinous liquid oozed from its gnashing mandibles as it focused its compound eyes on me. Its antennas twitched erratically, and it spat, I dodged to the side, but the ant had already anticipated my movement, and it raced towards me. The chittering bastard crossed the rough earth between us in a second. I was too close to a tree to dodge left and the acid to my right was bubbling away blocking my escape. Just when I thought I was about to be bisected by its acidic mandibles, a streak of grey and black fell from the heavens.

Berlioz hissed as he drove his spear into the Soldier’s gaster. My valiant cat bro had saved me but was struggling to hold on as the ant thrashed about. I was sure in that moment that Anansi could read my mind as he leapt of my wrist, took to the tree line and with a lightning-fast web pulled Berlioz away to safety. With the gifted opportunity I acted fast. I thanked my past wisdom for gaining the running skill as I powered through, darting to the side of the soldier and amputating each leg on its left with surgical precision.

“Three down, three to go. You nasty bastard.”

It crashed down and I deposited one machete into its pouch and pulled Berlioz’s spear out of the ant before stabbing it back. With visible effort I forced myself forward, using the pole of the spear to build momentum. With speed and grace, I hacked the first leg, slashed the second and fucking decimated the third. By the time I was done the Ant just laid their accepting its demise.

“Hey, Berlioz.” I called up to the cat above me. “D’ya want the final blow?”

The cat boy dropped down and in one smooth move stabbed his dagger into the ant’s thorax.

Congratulations, you have slain acid spitter ant (soldier) and have gained the following: large experience, blades.

Without time to dally I instructed Anansi to eat his fill and Berlioz to look out for more ants while I worked on a solution to removing the evidence. I took four spare pouches and dismantled them. As quickly as I could I wove a much wider bag and quickly got a thick dry rope of webbing from Anansi to use as a drawstring. We worked fast in fear of our fight attracting the attention of the defeated foe’s colony. I cut the Ants up into sections that would fit in the mouth of the bag and Berlioz ferried them in while Anansi slurped up any stray biomass that fell out. With the disgusting task done we took to the tree lines, and I was pretty sure we were all in agreement when I said.

“I’d be happy to never see one of those acid spitting freaks again.”

By the time we were home the sun was beginning to set, it had been a long day, but I’d be damned if it wasn’t a fun one. Existential threats aside I was actually enjoying the system’s chaos, and that fight was the first time since I arrived that I came out of an altercation unscathed. In that moment I wanted to dance naked as the sun fell beneath the horizon but I’m sure Berlioz would have disowned me if I did, instead I got to work. There was only a few bits left to do before we settled down for the night and I discovered what it would be like to be mortal again. First, I emptied out the bag for Anansi to feast on the ant parts, next I finished putting up the walls of my tree house and then much to the spider’s chagrin, I begged him to pause in his meal and had him weave two hammocks.

As the nights trio of planets rose and Berlioz yawned in the hammock beside me, I sang a selection of old Disney songs, that my brother would have loved. For the first time since being snatched from earth I felt tired, my thoughts were on the troubles ahead, but I sang those fears away knowing that as long as I had my cat bro and spider buddy by my side I would survive.

Warning: the Integration period has ended.

All remaining experience points shall be lost.

Your Character sheet has been generated and may be accessed upon waking.