Of the many wonders of this incredible world, the world crystal stands at the top of them all. Single-handedly holding up the numerous layers that rest beneath this one, it also serves as the only barrier shielding us humans and the other races from the effects of waves.
-Excerpt from the diary of Joshwa Mageborn, first level [100] magi.
The cockroach harbored a deep-seated hatred for spiders, particularly cave spiders. They had transformed its inability to die into a never-ending cycle of pain, alternating between killing it and subjecting it to the burning agony of their acid. This marked the cockroach's 100th death, and the constant torment had surprisingly accelerated the leveling up of two skills. Without the spiders' relentless assault, achieving such progress would have taken a much longer time.
Despite the forced benefits, the cockroach despised these useless deaths and sought any opportunity to escape the spiders' relentless pursuit. However, no matter how far it traveled, the arachnids always caught up, making the sky off-limits due to their ability to shoot acid over great distances with pinpoint accuracy.
Left with no other options, the cockroach reluctantly considered venturing into the water, a place it had previously avoided. The spiders showed no intention of letting it go, and the prospect of escaping their torment compelled the cockroach to face the discomfort of the watery depths, where it hoped to find a reprieve from the relentless spiders.
The cockroach was unaware of why they had chosen to torment it or how they had found it in the first place. It likely had something to do with the initial cave spider it had encountered—an aspect the cockroach was regretting sorely now. The cave spiders didn’t immediately kill it after the insect reformed; instead, they chose to watch it with their many eyes, observing its actions first, fully aware that anything it did would be futile anyway.
Something deep within the cockroach detested that—how they treated it as if it were their plaything, not even worthy of being prey. Hatred burned within the cockroach at the mere thought, and it placed the extermination of the cave spiders at the top of its list of things to do. Regardless of how long it took or the circumstances standing in its way, the cockroach vowed to achieve it.
There was only one thing it could do now: try to escape. Conventional means of doing so were thrown out of the window as the cockroach's wings buzzed, propelling it upward into the sky. It zipped around and flew right into the river, crashing into it with a splash. It attempted to sink deeper, but found itself at a loss as it didn't know how. Its wings buzzed, trying to use them as propellers to submerge, but that was also useless. There was a loud splash, and suddenly the water around the cockroach started hissing and boiling as it reacted with the acid of one of the cave spiders.
This was followed up by several more loud splashes as they spat more acid at it, it died a second later.
You have died [☠️]
Skill unlocked[🔓]: swimming (Common) (1/100)
Level up! [✨] Skill: Acid resistance (Common) (49/100) is now Acid resistance (Common) (50/100)
Fundamental shift: Hostile (Common ranked) acids will now have to expend 50% more energy to get through your defenses.
The cockroach awoke to waves of power slamming into its body, altering it on scales and in ways its mind wasn't made to comprehend. After that, it felt fundamentally different—a strange feeling. Seconds later, the sensation of power faded, and a small amount of knowledge, as well as some new instincts, flowed into the cockroach's mind, detailing how to swim and move through the water.
The cockroach felt inner joy as it sensed itself grow and progress. The new skill was a welcomed addition, and the blue screens were truly kind to those who pushed themselves. It took to the air once more and plunged into the river behind it. This time, it folded its many legs and adjusted its shape to align with the new knowledge it had acquired, sinking under the water effortlessly. The cockroach performed the necessary motions to descend deeper while holding its breath—a strange action for it, as it wasn't something it had thought of before.
The cockroach soon encountered another problem; it couldn't see or hear anything underwater. It was dark, and apart from the constant sound of flowing water as it moved, the underwater environment was deathly silent. That unnerved the cockroach on many levels. The insect felt as if it were being watched by numerous unseen entities from all angles, all waiting to devour it the moment it wasn't alert enough to spot them. The cockroach felt out of its element.
The cockroach also felt its strength diminishing the longer it spent under the silent waters. Eventually, it realized it no longer had the energy to resurface and slowly drowned as its body used up all its oxygen.
You have died [☠️]
Level up! [✨] Skill: Swimming (Common) (1/100) is now Swimming (Common) (10/100)
The cockroach felt power wash over it, surging through its body and blood. Along with the wave of power, more packets of knowledge and instincts flooded into the insect's mind, helping it better refine its swimming skill. Somehow, the cockroach now instinctively knew that it could last longer and swim more efficiently than before.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The level nine cave spider seemed displeased with its sudden course of actions and using one of its powerful but smaller legs, kicked the cockroach into the air before lashing out with another deathly sharp one, piercing the cockroach right through.
You have died [☠️]
Level up! [✨] Skill: Piercing resistance (Common) (49/100) is now Piercing resistance (Common)(50/100)
Fundamental shift: Hostiles will now have to expend 50% more energy to pierce through your defenses.
Level up! [✨] Skill: [Hybrid exoskeleton] (Special) (10/???) is now [Hybrid exoskeleton] (Special) (15/???)
+1 Defense
The cockroach awoke to power washing all over it, its exoskeleton shifted and thickened noticeably and its body was rapidly reworked and some fundamental level by the power of the blue screen. It reformed again and was slapped across the face by the level ten, the cockroach sailed across the river before slamming into the wall behind it, it didn’t feel damaged though.
Level up! [✨] Skill: Absorb shock (Rare) (1/200) is now Absorb shock (Rare) (3/200)
The cockroach realized that this was its chance. The river now separated it from the spiders, and while they could shoot acid at it with great accuracy, it was far away from them. It was confident it could move out of the way before the balls of corrosive substance managed to hit it.
The cockroach took to the air, wasting no time as it zipped upstream, deciding not to fly too high out of fear of encountering another dangerous bat that would set it back to square one. Instead, it opted to fly near the river itself but not too close. The fleeing insect knew that dangerous things lurked within those silent waters. It could hear the cave spiders shriek and the splash of acid where it had just been, but the cockroach didn’t look back and instead pulled on more energy to go faster.
It flew through the air at top speed, passing rock after rock. The cockroach noticed the air changing; it started to feel stale and fresh at the same time. It could also pick up lots of faint traces of different pheromones that lingered in the air, barely moving.
Soon, it came upon a massive opening in the ceiling above, one that it would've surely missed if it hadn't picked up yet another familiar scent faintly coming from above. Though it couldn't make out what was at the top of the hole, for some reason, it knew that something was there. It felt like a dungeon, and the cockroach was curious.
It flew up and was started when the space suddenly shifted and the opening became larger, by a lot, so much so that it couldn’t see the edges anymore and felt like it was in open space, which the cockroach knew wasn’t true, but something was messing with its senses
Welcome to [Slime Hub], the dungeon welcomes you!
[Transporting to dungeon: [Slimehub]
Blue light shone over the cockroach, and it disappeared, suddenly appearing in a massive cave—or what felt like one. The cockroach couldn’t see that far, but the stone looked like cave stone. However, this one was different; the air was filled with acid, to the point where it felt as if it was made of acid. If not for its acid resistance skill, the cockroach was sure it would've died the second it appeared here.
It moved around, finding that doing so required twice the effort, as the floor was coated with a sticky and extremely slimy substance that tried to burn it constantly. It wasn’t long before the cockroach felt something approaching, and it was surprised at what it saw—a moving ball of green liquid that bobbed towards it hungrily.
Acid slime (Hybrid) (3)
The acid slime lunged, moving with surprising speed, and splashed into the cockroach, doing no damage at all. The cockroach reacted instantly, moving its mandibles to snap through the monster, easily cleaving through the slime. Unlike what the cockroach expected, however, it didn’t die. Instead, the slime only grew a bit smaller and continued attacking it relentlessly, forcing the cockroach to retaliate by biting out chunks. This made the slime grow smaller and smaller until it fizzled out of existence when it got too small.
Acid slime (Hybrid) (3) killed!
[-/-] EXP awarded
Skill unlocked[🔓]: Dark sight (Uncommon) (1/150)
Sight skill detected. Sight aspect tree unlocked.
The cave suddenly became a little brighter, though not by much, but it was a noticeable difference to the cockroach. The cockroach picked a random direction and took to the air. Walking wouldn’t do since this place made that action cumbersome, so flying around would be much better in such an environment. It wasn’t long before it came upon another slime, though this time it was of a different color entirely. It was purple, a new color to the cockroach, yet somehow it knew the word for it.
Toxic slime (Killer) (5)
Level up! [✨] Skill: Willpower Manipulation (Common)(1/100) is now Willpower Manipulation (Common)(5/100)
A small wave of power washed over it and snaked into...somewhere. The cockroach wasn’t quite sure, but it suddenly felt more solid and whole.
The slime didn’t bounce forward, instead, it suddenly began releasing wispy clouds of purple smoke that drifted around it and into the air above it. The clouds began to get larger and larger until the entire passageway forward was filled off with the purple cloud that slowly began moving towards the cockroach as soon as it came into contact with the cockroach it began to freeze up.
Status effect gained: Purple slime death spiral [10]
Status effect gained: Paralysis [1]
The cockroach could only watch in mute horror as the slime inched closer, each movement feeling heavier and more menacing as it drew closer. When it was finally there, the slime extended purple tendrils and slowly wrapped them around the body of the cockroach. Soon, the slime had morphed to fit the cockroach and now covered its entire body.
Status effect gained: Paralysis [5]
Status effect gained: Brain rot [1]
Status effect gained: Madness [1]
Special status effect gained: Death spiral [S]
The world contorted violently for the cockroach, reality itself spiraling inward in a dizzying whirl. Abruptly, it found itself plummeting, the air around filled with a kaleidoscope of colors. In the bizarre scene, a colossal ant with a prominent red nose and a face adorned in various hues loomed, incessantly spewing blobs of ants at the cockroach, accompanied by a burst of maniacal laughter that echoed through the surreal environment.
Reality contorted as a solitary, enormous tendril of purple slime cleaved through the ant's visage, penetrating the cockroach's mouth before culminating in a dramatic explosion.
You have died [☠️]
Skill unlocked[🔓]: Stable mind (Rare) (1/200)
Skill unlocked[🔓]: Pain resistance (Uncommon) (1/150)