How long have I been out for?
I’m… still in the mushroom patch.
Appraisal…
Ah… That’s… that’s good.
Uff…
I try to stand up, but my muscles don’t seem to listen to me, and a stabbing sensation of pain comes from them instead.
At least the Aurobella worked, I think.
I can’t get a great look at the area of the wound, on account of being quadrupedal and having a weird neck, but it looks better from what I can see out of the corner of my eye.
I wonder how long we’ve been out for? We’re lucky nothing got us while we were passed out on the ground, if I’d known that was going to happen I would’ve taken the Aurobella back to our den before eating it.
{Gloria?}
No response, seems she’s not up yet.
Well, my only option here is to just stay put until the muscle aches subside and I’m able to walk again. Until then, I just have to hope nothing will happen upon us while we’re in this state.
Ah, I must’ve jinxed it, huh?
Through the darkness of the cave, I make out the shape a little dinosaur-looking monster walking this way. It doesn’t seem to have noticed me just yet, but if it keeps coming this way, it will.
Wait… I swear I recognize what that thing is. It couldn’t actually be what I think it is, right?
It doesn’t matter yet, for now I need to think of a way to fight it off if it decides to make an easy meal out of us, without being able to walk.
I doubt any of our spells will be very useful against it, so… Ahh, that’s my only option, huh?
It shouldn’t turn out as bad as last time, maybe.
Hissss
Ah, it spotted me.
The frills on its head unfurl, definitely as a display of aggression. Ah man, this thing really seems like one of those.
I prepare myself as it winds up for an attack.
As it lunges forward, I use soul control to manifest my soul as a shield, to block it.
But before it makes contact with the shield, it stops in its path, and a glob of purple liquid shoots from its mouth.
It hits the soul shield, and I instantly feel a wave of nausea wash over me. I dispel the shield before it gets worse, causing the purple goo to fall onto the ground.
I should’ve known, it is one of those. Damn it!
Go back to Jurassic Park, you jerk!
As I thought, using soul control is still a wildly bad idea, especially as a shield. It’s like using the most vulnerable and weak part of your body to block an attack that would’ve hit anywhere else.
I can still use it to attack though! The only issue is actually hitting it, when I’m stuck here on the ground while it can move around all it wants. I just need to create an opportunity to get a hit in!
It strafes around me, continuing to hiss.
I get it, I get it you bastard. It’s trying to be cautious because its attack didn’t hit me, and it doesn’t know why.
But that caution has given me just enough time to come up with a way to catch you off guard.
I gather my mana, and make a mana light, as close to the thing’s face as I can get it, specifically the eyes.
It’s caught off guard by the sudden light in its eyes, so I act fast to not let this opportunity go to waste.
Using soul control, I create a spear this time, and stab it directly into the monster’s chest.
Bullseye!
The monster lets out a screech, and tries to jump at me, but only impales itself further by doing so.
I dispel the spear, allowing the monster to fall to the ground, light beginning to fade from its eyes.
That’s what you get!
I’d strike a celebratory pose at this point, but my muscles still ache too much to move.
Maybe healing magic will speed up the process…
Much better! Now that the pain is gone, I feel great!
Gloria still isn’t up, so I guess I should just go back to our den for now. Gloria will be very happy to hear that we can continue her meaningless wandering deeper now that we’re completely healed.
I don’t know why she likes moving so often, but I see no reason to not just go along with it for now.
Yaaaawn…
What time is… Oh!!
What happened? Last I remember, I was… Ah, right! I was training in my mind, against memories of enemies, then… I got a headache, and that’s all I can remember.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Very strange, very strange.
Maybe Fir knows what’s going on.
[Hey Fir!]
{You’re finally up?}
[Yeah, what happened?]
{I ate a mushroom.}
[Huh? Why’d you do that? They have those nasty spores.]
{No, not a Mushle, a mushroom. A regular one, called Aurobella according to appraisal.}
[Oh, okay. Why’d it knock us out?]
{Well, it was medicinal. And it turned out to be a very potent medicine. Healed us right back up though, check it out.}
Fir repositions our body, so the spot where the big hole on our side was is visible. Where the hole was, is now raw looking skin covered by sparse patches of short quills.
[Ooh, lookin’ good! Well, it actually looks super gross, but there’s no hole! So, finally time to move?]
{If that’s what you want to do.}
[It definitely is!]
I excitedly take control of the body, walking up to Mushthew and picking him up.
I had gotten used to the pain from the wound before, but I can definitely notice it’s gone now while I’m moving around!
After all that time, I don’t feel like waiting around, I’m heading out immediately!
Ooooh? What is this?
I’ve been walking for a while now, maybe a few hours. A little while ago, I started seeing more and more rocks sticking out from the Gaul roots covering everything. As I went on, the amount of rocks peeking out kept growing.
Now, I see something else sticking out.
In front of me, there’s a huge, jagged log of wood stretching from the bottom of the cave up past the point I can see. At least… I think it’s wood? It’s a little weird looking...
{I’ll appraise it.}
{Weird, I’ll appraise the name again.}
{Unable… no way, is our appraisal skill too low..?}
As Fir absentmindedly thinks out loud, I look around. Far off, past the dead tree, something catches my eye.
[Hey, look over there, is that light?]
{Wher- Oh yeah, I think I see it.}
[Let’s check it out!]
Finding the light way more interesting than a weird looking tree, I make the executive decision to take a look.
By now, the ground around us is entirely stone, with Gaul roots only poking out of the rocky ground in a few spots.
As I run over to the light, I notice some strange looking shattered stones on the ground. They’re in pieces, but I can tell they used to be nearly circular. They kinda look like…
{Look!}
Fir draws my attention back to the light, which we can now see is coming from a crack between some fallen rocks. I peer through, and my eyes slowly adjust to the brightness.
Through the small crack, I see a large open space, illuminated by glowing stones on the ceiling. The ground is probably down below where we’re looking from, but I don’t know how far down it is because it’s obscured by a thick layer of deep green leaves.
It’s like the underground forest from before, but the vegetation is waaaaay thicker, like a rain forest.
Let’s bust up this rock wall and get in there!
I jump back a few feet, and look for the weakest spot of the cluster of rocks. There!
I rush towards the rocks, leaping forward to hit the rocks with every last bit of momentum.
With a loud crack, the rock I struck falls apart. With one of the load-bearing rocks now in pieces, the rest of the cluster of rocks falls apart, widening the crack into a full opening.
Now, how am I gonna get down?
Woah…
I’m not too surprised anymore, of course. This isn’t the first underground forest I’ve seen in this life.
Still though, it’s a crazy sight.
Now that the light is pouring out of the newly-opened entrance to the underground jungle, the dark little cave we’re in is more visible as well, which allows me to notice something I hadn’t before.
Not all of the rocks here are natural.
Not even the ones we’re standing on.
These look like bricks. I look around, and sure enough, I see the tell-tale outlines of what probably used to be structures. They’re all around us, in fact.
The architecture… well, I’m definitely no expert in architecture, but it reminds me of the place we teleported from.
Except… It’s odd how undamaged these ruins seem. The other place was falling apart, but this place is…
Well, it’s weird to think, but while the other place was ruins, this place seems more… just, abandoned?
There’s still some wood attached to the dilapidated frames of the houses, which is weird for a place you’d think is very very old.
{Ah, Gloria, hang on a minute, let’s take a look at these ruins.}
[Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.]
Wow, this is really incredible.
I wouldn’t say I was terribly interested in history in my past life, but this is still quite something.
This place definitely doesn’t seem as old as the other place. I obviously don’t know exactly how old the other place is, but I feel like the wood here would have rotted away a long time ago if it was as old as that place.
It’s not just the wood though, the furniture inside inside is surprisingly intact. Woven carpets, tables, chairs. It’s all quite dirty, and some of it has definitely been looted by monsters, but I feel like this place is just old, rather than ancient.
This is… super exciting!
With the other place, we confirmed humans existed at some point, although we couldn’t be sure if they were still around. With this, we can be pretty sure they were around recently! Specifically, around here! If we keep exploring… maybe we’ll find them…
[Can we go now?]
{Sure, sure. I don’t think there’s anything left for us here.}
As we pass by the dead tree again, I try appraising it one more time.
But this time, It works.
Wha-
Am I… No, there’s no way I heard that right.
I appraise the tree again, with the same result.
Artificially engineered… that… does that mean what I think?