I need to get more levels. I would die before I even get close to them if I tried to fight them now.
Pulling up her map, Bug places a marker on the spot where she found them as she heads deeper into the dungeon.
Heading down a new corridor, Bug finds a Jelly that is busily trying to eat an old backpack. Poking the Jelly with her knife, it pops, and she stores its skin. Looking over the bag, she is dismayed to find it torn apart. One strap is broken and there is a huge tear in the bottom of it.
She stores it and then sells it, her balance of points ticking up by one.
Continuing down the twisting halls, Bug finally comes across some mobs. Peaking around a corner, she watches as two mobs are fighting over a mana crystal.
Her eyes widen as she sees the shining treasure. Quickly scanning them both brings a smile to her face as the results come back as both being Level 1.
Free Exp. and a treasure? Lucky me. The humans were too much, but this I can handle.
Stepping out from the corner, Bug stores her knife and then withdraws a smooth rock. Getting to a comfortable range, she starts chucking one rock after the other. Just continuing to pull them out of her inventory as she throws with everything that her Strength enhanced body has.
The first couple of rocks miss quite badly, soaring past the wrestling pair or landing at their feet. They don’t seem to notice at all and just keep fighting.
They do, however, finally start to notice as her accuracy gets better, and the rocks begin to smack against their bodies.
They scream and cover their faces as the rocks keep pelting them. Slowly, Bug notices as her aim gets a bit better and the motion for throwing becomes more natural. Like her muscles are learning the motions and are getting better at repeating them.
Probably my Dexterity stat doing its thing…
Mentally shrugging, Bug just keeps throwing rocks for about five minutes. She has a lot of rocks in her inventory.
Starting to finally get fed up with getting pelted by rocks, one of the two mobs finally lowers his arms to try and charge at Bug. He screams as he runs at her.
He ends up getting a rock to the eye which sends him reeling back, tripping over himself. The other one is still protecting himself, curled up around the mana stone as if to protect it with his body.
Fucking idiots. There is two of you here. If they were smart, they would have realized that they could have ran away or even tried to rush me together… Doesn’t matter. They’ll both be dead soon…
Walking closer, Bug continues to pelt the one that fell down, occasionally chucking a rock at the cowardly one as well to keep him curled up.
The one on the ground keeps trying to protect himself, but Bug just aims for wherever he isn’t blocking. Stubbornly, he refuses to uncover his face again.
Standing over him now, Bug looks him over a find a good spot to hit him. Pulling out a sharp rock, she throws it down as hard as she can into his crotch.
He screams, his voice louder than any call that she has ever heard from one of them so far. Not even when they were dying at the end of her blade did they scream this loud.
Wincing at the ringing in her ears, she pulls out the biggest rock she has and throws it down hard onto his head. He isn’t protecting his face anymore but is instead holding his crotch with both hands.
Something cracks under the blow of the big rock, and he stops moving. His body goes limp and soon enough the notification for the kill comes. She waits a moment, but nothing yet for the skill…
Hmm… Maybe one isn’t enough? How many did I kill with a knife before I got the skill? I guess that I will just have to keep trying.
Looking to the second one, who is peeking out at the one that just died with a pale face, Bug checks her progress.
Just five more exp and then I’ll level up again…
“Thankfully, I have five experience sitting right here for me.”
The thing curled up on the floor looks up at her and quivers. A puddle of some pungent liquid forming below him.
“Fucking disgusting…” Bug spits at him as she watches him piss himself.
Stepping around the growing puddle, not wanting to wet her feet. She approaches the thing as he backs away from her, his back eventually hitting a wall.
Fear turns to desperation as he finds himself cornered, so he lunges for Bug. But she has already seen this happen before. This time it doesn’t take her by surprise. Grabbing the hand that just tried to bludgeon her with the mana crystal, she pulls hard and yanks the thing to the floor.
He tries to fight back, but her strength is already easily more than twice his.
Pinning his arm holding the crystal to the ground, Bug raises her fist and punches him across the face. The first time she does it, her thumb was tucked into her grip and the blow made it hurt. Shaking her hand, she quickly adjusts her fist so that her thumb is on the outside of her fist before punching him again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
Pulling back her arm and punching forward, she repeatedly mashes his face into the ground with her fist.
He had tried to protect himself for the first few blows, but her strength is already to the point that a couple of blows was enough to break a bone in his arm. Eventually he stopped trying to cover his face.
His other arm, the one still stubbornly holding the crystal, eventually goes slack as he gives up. Bug releases the arm so that she can use both hands to beat him as she sits on his chest.
Left, right, left, right… His head keeps getting knocked to the side again and again as her fists break his face. She hears bones break under her assault, but it doesn’t come from her hands.
Eventually, she stops, her stamina running low as she breaths heavily on top of him. His face is nothing more than a pulped and ruined mess of torn flesh, broken bone, and bruised muscles. She can’t even see his eyes through the swelling.
For a few moments, he continues to breathe through labored breaths, until, with a final bloody cough, he stops. His body goes limp as he stops breathing and his weak grip over the crystal finally slackens. It falls from his open hand and rolls on the ground for a short distance before coming to a stop.
Bug waits and breaths as she sits on top of the corpse, watching as the notifications go by.
//Killed lvl 1 Gremlin – 5 exp gained!
//Killed lvl 1 Gremlin – 5 exp gained!
//Congratulations! You have reached lvl 5! – Your stats have been increased!
//You have earned 3 Free Stat points!
//You have earned 1 Skill point!
…
“Tisk… No new skill… looks like I will have to keep trying for that one as well.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Looking around, Bug decides that it would be best to get moving. They made a lot of noise as she was killing them, and she doesn’t want to risk the humans sneaking up on her.
Popping some moss in her mouth to eat, she gets up as her stamina hits half and starts collecting everything.
She has a shit load of rocks to retrieve from the ground and after she finishes gathering them, she collects the corpses and sells them, earning her four points for the store. Lastly, and with great care, she retrieves the mana crystal.
Bug allows herself a few moments to gaze into its beauty before finally storing it safely away.
Checking her inventory, she smiles. “Now I have three of them, hmhmhm~”
Feeling happy from acquiring her new treasure. She sets off to find somewhere to hide for a bit. As she walks, she feels the stat adjustment take effect as her body grows a bit stronger. The pain is easier to deal with this time and it passes quickly.
After wandering for a little while, Bug eventually stumbles upon a little discovery.
High up in the wall of a dead end is a hole in the wall. From down on the floor, she can’t tell if anything is in there or not, but it is perfect for her needs right now. Heading up to the wall, Bug uses her claws to get a hold on the cracks and ledges as she pulls herself up.
Climbing comes surprisingly easy to her, and before she knows it, she has reached the hole. Taking a peek inside, it doesn’t seem as if anyone is home, so she pulls herself in and crawls until she is nice and hidden from anyone that would be in the hallway.
“Haaaaa….”
Getting as comfy as she can, Bug takes out some more moss to eat and then spends her Free Stat Points.
----------------------------------------
Stats
Name – Bug
Age – 0
Race – Gremlin
Class – None
Level – 5
EXP – 0/40
Free Stat Points - 0
Heath – 60/60
Stamina – 24/24
Mana – 100/100
Vitality – 10
Endurance – 8
Strength - 8
Dexterity - 10
Magic - 10
Intelligence - 12
*Luck – N/A
*Note: Luck is a work in progress stat. Points cannot be put into this stat at this time.
----------------------------------------
“I’ve decided. I’m getting magic!” Bug excitedly exclaims to herself.
Throwing open the store and finding the link for the recommended Magic Knowledge, she only hesitates for a short moment before clicking Buy.
Two points disappear from her balance and after hitting confirm on the prompt asking if she would like to learn, a new loading bar pops up on screen and begins to slowly fill.
A bit too slowly actually, now that she is watching it. In fact, this one seems to be going slower than the Basic System Knowledge did…
“Shit, this is going to hurt, isn’t it…?”
Her mind is already buzzing as it loads, and dread fills her.
98%... 99%....... 100%
Bug grits her teeth, but it isn’t enough. The pain slams into her like a hammer against an anvil. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that her brain had just been reduced to mush.
She reels back like she was just punched, falling deeper into the hole in the wall as she writhes and screams, holding her head and pulling at her hair as her head starts to feel like it is being split open, with hot liquid being poured in through the cracks.
Tears running down her face, she screams as the pain tears her mind apart for what feels like hours but is probably only a few moments. And then it all stops.
As suddenly as it came, it was now gone. Leaving behind nothing but a lingering headache.
Bug remains lying on the floor of her hole, eyes staring up at the ceiling absently as tears run over her cheeks.
She has to lay there for a while, letting her mind slowly pull itself back together from the shock. At the very least this time she didn’t try to bludgeon herself with a shiny rock to run from the pain…
Slowly, she pulls herself upright, her body covered in sweat and her head pulsing, and leans herself against the cold and damp walls of the dungeon. Letting the cold touch of stone leach away some of the lingering heat that is still bathing her mind.
She doesn’t know how long she stays sitting there, gently nursing her head. She doesn’t bother checking the clock.
Eventually, once she is finally ready, Bug pulls her head away from the cool wall and gets herself as comfortable as she can.
Ouch…
Looking up to the ceiling she screams, not caring who might hear her. “Hey System! You mind making it to so that doesn’t FUCKING hurts so much!?”
Flopping her head back down against some moss growing in the hole, Bug catches her breath for a bit before finally opening the Skill Store and setting the filters.
Looking over all the spells available to her, she finally understands them completely. Their strength and weaknesses. Which secondary elements would be available depending on what she picked as her first. Which elements are objectively better than others. And most importantly, which ones are better suited to helping Bug survive for more than a day in the Dungeon.
She could pick any of the basic elements like fire, water, ice, wind, etc. But they all have the same problem.
Their Level 1 spells are not truly intended for combat.
While she could certainly throw a Fire Spark at someone. The best that that would do is give them a painful burn; maybe even – if she is lucky – set their clothes or hair on fire.
Create Water? If she could get her hands over someone’s mouth and nose, she could try to drown them. But if she is that close to them, then she may as well just slit their throat.
The spells have their uses, yes. You can light a campfire with Fire Spark or fill your canteen with Create Water. Which, notably, actually doesn’t ‘Create’ water. It just pulls the moisture out of the air and forces it to become water. An interesting fact which Bug notes but decides to leave for later to think over.
This generally applies to all of the Level 1 spells in the basic elements. They aren’t combat spells, but utility spells.
Looking into the advanced elements, Bug finds spells for Darkness, Light, Space, and Time. These four make up the advanced circle of magic, and naturally, have the potential to become some of the most powerful, and even nigh unstoppable, of magics later on once they reach the higher tiers of power.
The only problem is that they all start off incredibly weak and don’t gain any combat spells until much later than the basic elements do.
With Fire magic, bug could be throwing little fire balls by the second tier. But with say, Space magic, she would be stuck with levitating small rocks and throwing them as her best combat magic for a few tiers at best. She might as well just learn Throw Rock for all the good it would do her right now…
At least with Darkness magic, Bug could coat herself in shadows to better hide in the dark. But it is incredibly weak to natural light and even fire in the early tiers. It is certainly an option if Bug wants to spend her days hiding away from everything, but what Bug needs is a way to harm her enemies and get kills. She needs levels if she is ever going to get strong enough to leave the Dungeon.
Which leads to the final circle of magic. Existence magic.
Life mirroring Death. Body mirroring Soul.
Life focusses on healing very heavily and is for banishing the Undead.
Death focusses on killing, causing harm, and excels at warding away the living through fear.
The both of them, if taken, would have access to Body and Soul magic as secondaries. With Body and Soul having access to Life and Death as secondaries if picked.
When a Life mage uses Body magic, it becomes spells that can regrow lost limbs and improve one’s strength, providing buffs to allies. With Soul magic, they become even capable of bringing back the dead in higher tiers.
When a Death mage uses Body magic, it becomes spells that can forcefully alter the body of the target, be it themselves or someone else. Be it to beneficial or detrimental – even horrific - effects... With Soul magic, they can raise the dead as their minions and attack the souls of their enemies. For a powerful enough Death mage, even death is not the end.
Body mages, with secondaries in Life and Death, become masters of their own body and are nearly immortal. They become berserkers that can shift their own form at will, heal their own wounds, and hold immense power in their body. All at the eventual cost of losing their sanity.
Soul mages, with secondaries in Life and Death, become masters of their own soul. They don’t really get any attack spells until much further on, but eventually they can discard their body and become an immortal living soul. Almost a god of sorts, but they are weak and vulnerable for most of their life until they reach that point.
Taking in these four options, Bug immediately discards Life and Soul as viable options.
Both options are entirely too reliant on having allies to help keep you safe. And while Light magic is incredibly strong against the Undead, even in the lower levels. Bug is not fighting the undead. She is fighting the living.
Looking over both Death and Body magic, Bug eventually comes to her decision. Body magic is tempting. Very tempting… But she doesn’t want to risk losing her sanity in exchange for power and being nearly unkillable. There is no point in being alive if her mind isn’t her own to control.
She picks Death magic and selects the spell, Inflict Pain.
Her last point spent; Bug settles in for more pain. The knowledge she gained helping her to know what is about to happen next.
Her mana core, a small mote of a metaphysical organ, floating just above her uterus and right below her navel, is about to undergo a change from dormant and colorless, to Death.
If she is going to be able to wield the powers of Death, then a small part of her needs to die first. Bug notes that this will also ruin her ability to ever conceive children, an option that she had never even considered in the couple of hours that made up her life so far.
A part of her feels sad about this. She has no idea what the future will hold for her, but she is already losing an option that could have potentially been something nice.
The feeling passes quickly, however. Bug is doing this for her immediate survival. Her future is one where she gets to leave the Dungeon. Alive and free, and eating cookies.
She can regret the choices she made later when she is living under the light of the Sun. An interesting thing that she had just learned about and is very much wanting to be able to see someday.
… The pain comes like an icicle stabbing through her intestines. Her vision goes white, and her hearing becomes static as she screams her throat hoarse.
Her entire body goes cold, and Bug swears that she can feel the cold embrace of Death itself upon her shoulders. It envelops her in its presence. A single hand wrapped around her heart as it gives her a single, almost gentle and loving squeeze.
A reminder of how close she now lives to the doorstep of Death.
Pain that goes beyond what her mind is capable of processing rips through Bug, her very soul screaming out into the hallows of the Dungeon itself.
Her mind blessedly chooses unconsciousness over awareness as she slips into the darkness of her own mind. Unrestful sleep taking her as her body continues to writhe and shake, tucked away in some dark hole in a corner of the Dungeon.