Sitting down across from the thing I made after having taken a bref nap, I pull out my P…my Status Book? My status book, only being mildly surprised to find a third page having been filed out.
Potential rewards for completing Bounty 3582 of newly integrated partial Real.
1- H grade and introducing book on crafting.
2- Tire 1-Runic Shrard
3- opertortunity to learn a version of-skill minor Identify- warning learning this skill will Void its False version.
Reminder from the Crafters Guild. Only one bounty reward can be claimed at this time. Please continue completing bounty's to potentialy become an apprentice.
I can't help but frown looking at these options… I didn't expect to get rewarded for creating…what ever the heck my club is, but this seems a little…underwhelming. Truthfully I want it all but… until I escape this building and reunite with my brother it's doubtful I'll have any time to read. No matter how much I'd love to learn about crafting with in this new world. Shards and what ever they do are still a mystery. While Identify or at least the false version, is only as useful as what i use it on.
In the end I select to obtain the real identify skill. Under the assumption that with out it I won't even know if I fond something valuable it it me in the head. After confirming my choice by saying it out loud, the page goes blank again, while a metal slate with intricate lines carved into it falls to the ground in front of me. Tire 1-Minor Runic Puzzle- Completing this puzzle has a 90% chance of putting the owner in a proper mental state to obtaining a version of the Skill Identify-note you can only benefit from this tool once.
When I pick it up an odd thought strikes me as I gaze upon the slate. It looks like an ink blotch test crossed with a maze. Now how something can be both seemingly arbitrary and predetermined I don't know. But I'm positive if I solve the maze I'll learn…something, probably the mentioned Skill.
Ether way I tuck the Slate away and tentatively pick up my club, as I prepare as I prepare to descend to the 4th floor and probably rescue Ghost. I might not like her but that doesn't mean I want her dead ether.
After taking a few step I'm immediately assaulted by the sensation of invisible claws digging into my right hand."not yet club. J just be patient." Id normally feel supid talking to an object, except it does result in the pain of invisible claws fading into just pinprick's.
Advancing thorgh the 5th floor is interesting. Since this whole time I've been sitting at the entrance, the vines have continued growing. Sealing off most rooms, windows and seamingly making the hallways bigger. While shrub and grass like growths decorating have decorated the floor. Normally the shrubs would make it difficult to traverse such an inclosed environment but the expansion of the hallways ensures there's just enough space to walk through without getting stuck. But if the beetles were still alive it's be a deceptive maze of nearly invisible danger.
Trying to remain vigilant is made hard by all the questions burning within me. Even still I reach the path down unchallenged, the floor havening really been cleaned.
Now calling the path down a stair case feels wrong now. For one the door is gone, The stairs aren't visible, and the whole space is unnaturaly larger than it should be possible without severely damaging the building. It looks more like a grassy tunnel made of vines now rather than any sort of stair case.
I'm reminded of the quest I was issued after killing the mantis.
•••Quest issued for aiding dungeon creation- Clear the developing Dungeon of all inhabitants- Reward- H Grade information.
The hospital is a developing dungeon. From the stories I've been read there's only really three types of dungeons. Those that contain criminals, those that contain valuables, and those that contain magic. Given the e last one was only in fantasy books but it's still valid I think given the circumstances.
While descending I can't help but make the connections. Have I found criminals, no but I have found very dangerous monsters. Have I found valuables, yes. Finally have I seen magic, yes but not in any structured way. But maybe that's why the quest wanted me to clear the dungeon? So the dungeon could build be built without having to incorporate the monsters and irregular magic?
Distracted by these thoughts I don't notice as grass is replaced by meat. Not until I set foot on the 4th floor and hear a sickly skeletal voice echo in my head. [ Welcome to the dungen of False Life aspiring acolyte.-;;:-/•[~~To leave the 4th floor cleanse the infection from the mothers garden.Do not fall to the abominations. ->;-{}-BROKEN PRI!•••—-]
Shaking of the incoherent scream that hit me at the end I try back up only to hit an invisible barrier blocking the tunnel up.
" so that's why Ghost didn't come back."
As if to try and challenge that statement a monstrosity made of meat and vines rounds the corner. The creatures very presence fills me with dread seeping into the cuts and burns along my Spirit, yet an infectious eagerness invades me from my weapon. A challenge approaches, a chance to let loose, a chance to prove itself as the coming storm!
Taking a deep breath I lean into these emotions, I know there not mine. Yet with so many of my stats cut in half I can't help but distrust my own emotions. So reluctantly I trust in my creation. We both want to fight, to test our selves, to grow.
Energy builds within my club as I feed the eager thing Force form my center. I don't want to run, I've always hated running away. I'll do anything to survive, but if I had a choice I don't think I'd want to run away ever again.
Unknown to me the underdeveloped spirit thin my club can hear these thoughts and begins internalizing the idea of stubbornness, to become as unyielding in its desires as its creator, no as a storm would be!