Now, where was I, I thought to myself. Oh yes, you've done very little. Eaten flowers. Chased by this fucker. And let's not forget your first death...
The stream was right in front of me now, and I didn't break stride as I leapt it.
CAV did the same.
I had nowhere left to run, but escape had never been my plan. I landed in the sand on the other side of the water and planted my feet, hoping that the element of surprise would be enough to turn the tide.
CAV screamed in indignation, spraying its insides across the surface of the stream.
Oh CAV, that's not going to help matters...
I whirled around. I wouldn't have thought a mosquito's face capable of surprise, but CAV did a reasonable job of proving me wrong. I'd done the absolute last thing it expected by standing my ground. Its sight was compromised. It was missing a leg, not to mention whatever the juices it was losing were supposed to do for it.
Even CAV, as pissed off as it was, couldn't alter the basic laws of physics. It was already in the air, which meant it wasn't able to change direction. I could practically see its brain fighting with its body as it debated risking a swipe at me and landing sprawled out and defenseless if it missed, or taking the safe route and coming to rest between me and the stream.
That was when it finally learned to fear me. I could tell, since it opted to spread out its remaining limbs and attempt to land without risking a counterattack.
It thumped to the ground just ahead of me, and I reached up with every ounce of strength I possessed and shoved.
CAV made the mistake of rearing up and trying to back away from the enemy that had ruined its leg and its face, which allowed me to overbalance it completely. It flailed, teetered, and then tipped backward into the stream.
For a second I thought this gambit had all been for nothing, but then the Puddle Piranhas did their gruesome work. They were efficient, impartial predators, their broad jaws clipping through chitin with the same ease that they'd torn pieces from me. A few short seconds later they'd ground through its exoskeleton, the oddly flowing stream becoming discolored in both directions at once.
"You better have some loot on you," I told it, dragging a leg out of the water before it became fish food. "Because I feel like I deserve it..."
CHAPTER TWELVE
Individual: CAV-THRI-JARV
Species: XAR
Citadel Rank: 3,810
Highest Citadel Floor Reached: 4
Species Save Point: XAR Central Hive - Floor 3
Victory over CAV-THRI-JARV has earned you 388 Experience
You are now CAV-THRI-JARV's Nemesis - Expect Reprisal
You have earned enough experience to increase your Level. Find a safe place and your rewards will be granted.
The fact that, after all of the shit I'd been dragged through backwards in the last twelve hours, I could still smile at the thought of leveling up, gave me hope that I might be able to find a way to succeed at this.
Toot had seemed impressed that I'd spent so much time playing games. Perhaps the simulations really had unknowingly given me the tools I'd need to fight my way to the top of the Citadel.
Of course, I was disappointed that I had to find a 'safe place', whatever that was, before I got to improve my stats. Fair or not though, those were the rules. Once I grabbed whatever gear, items, or useful parts of the body I could, I'd go in search of a spot that qualified.
I'd managed to save a couple of the XAR's limbs from the fish. A big chunk of thorax was still attached to one of them and the stink made my bile start thinking about using my mouth as an escape hatch.
Possible materials to collect include but are not limited to - XAR Claws, XAR Ichor, XAR Chitin
Would you like to attempt to DISMANTLE the corpse?
I shrugged. Why not?
Your base DISMANTLE chance is 33%. You have no tools, which lowers your chance by 20%. Every hour allocated to the task increases the Dismantle chance by 10%. How many hours will you dedicate to Dismantle?
That was a much tougher question than I was ready to answer. I didn't want to spend too long here, but I had no idea how important it would be to collect this stuff. "Three hours," I said, deciding that bumping my odds of success up to a bit less than the flip of a coin wasn't too bad. If I ended up getting nothing, so be it.
I don't know what I was expecting, but one second I was squatting down beside the remnants and the next I was standing up, the task completed. It was darker, and the cold was setting in. I could smell the approach of rain, even though the clouds were still stuck in the same places they'd always been.
The time between the moment I'd begun and now was gone, but at least I had something to show for it.
Items Acquired - 5 XAR Claws, 1 Mappatee Essence
Items Destroyed - 3 XAR Claws, 1 XAR Ichor, 2 XAR Chitin
Skill: Dismantle
The ability to break down and salvage core components from a larger source.
Base score - Thirty-three
New score - Thirty-six
I had all five claws in my hand. Dismantle had given me everything it was going to; the rest of the body I'd saved had was gone, no doubt destroyed in the process.
Each of the claws was about eight inches long, as sharp as obsidian and rippled by a broad row of wicked serrations. I plucked one from the stack and marveled at its heft and balance. There was even a smooth section at the base where I could grip it without having to worry about losing a finger.
Item: XAR Claw
Current Skills Improved: Dismantle, Melee Strike, Gather
Effect: Classified as a Cutting Tool
Effect: 10% chance to cause victim to bleed for 20% of inflicted damage for 10 seconds
That was good enough for me. It was getting too dark to contemplate all the wild and willful ways I'd attempt to eviscerate my foes with this thing. If I was going to cross the Swathe and look for shelter, I'd better hurry up and start.
As for the Mappatee Essence, it lay glittering like a dull gemstone in the palm of my other hand. Not knowing what to do with it, I slipped it into my pocket and zipped it up so it wouldn't fall out.
It was time to think about that 'safe place' clause. I figured I could use my new cutting tool to try and hack enough wood free from the surrounding trees to build something that might keep the incoming weather off of my head. It wasn't an ideal solution though, especially since I had no idea how cold it would get or how long the night would last.
I wanted to push on, though. There was so much to explore, and playing it safe wasn't going to cut it.
At least I was getting pretty good at jumping the stream. Once I'd landed on the other side, I cut through the field again. There had to be something worthwhile beyond it. The mists that had lingered low on the ground earlier had risen, becoming something closer to a fog. Visibility wasn't a problem yet, but it would be soon.
I walked as quickly as I dared, all the while fighting the urge to run. Breaking my ankle in a hole wouldn't improve my lot. If I barreled into another XAR, I'd be better off using my new claw to slit my own throat as opposed to risking thirteen long days of servitude.
As I hurried through the flowers, I let my hands trail along the petals. I'd already spent too much time dismantling CAV's corpse. As much as it pained me to lose the flowers I'd already gathered, I'd had no choice but to leave them behind when I'd made the break for the stream. Finding my little stockpile now, in the gathering darkness and with the rising fog would be—
"Mrrrrrrrm."
I froze. The noise had rolled over me from over on the left. It was a warm, round sound, completely at odds with the sharply hollow rattle the XAR had made at me earlier.
"Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmm." Longer this time, and with more urgency.
"Hello?"
"Mrrrm!"
I frowned and headed over in that direction as quietly as I was able. The softness of the ground helped, and I was pretty sure that I'd snuck up on whatever was making that odd
, rolling foghorn noise at me.
Skill: Sneak
The ability to move without making a sound.
Base score - Twenty-two
New score - Twenty-three
The thing making the noise was the creature the XAR had enslaved. I didn't think he had moved at all in the time since the needle had slid from his neck.
I got a little closer, still wary. Now that I was so near, I could get an even better idea of his size.
He would probably be a lot taller than me if he were able to stand up straight, but the ripple of muscles across his broad shoulders wasn't ever going to let that be an option. All of his stubby limbs ended in a splay of wide fingers each as long as the other. As I looked on, he gently flexed them, and when they were all pressed together they looked more like a hoof than a hand.
"Hi," I said, waving awkwardly.
His eyes were tracking me, and he'd just shown me that he could move its limbs, at least a little. Between that and the sound he had made to call me over, I was hopeful the poor thing would eventually recover.
"You're free," I told him. "The thing that was on your back, the XAR? I killed it. He's gone," I said, though I wondered how true that was. If the XAR's rules were the same as mine, and I had no reason to believe otherwise, CAV could already be on its way back down here from the third floor where its Hive was. It had to wait a set amount of time to respawn, but if this was its first death this time around in the Citadel, it had a two hour jump on me because I'd spent so much time dismantling its corpse.
How long would the return trip take it? I glanced around warily. Suddenly, the whirls and tendrils of growing fog all looked like needle faces and slashing claws. "Let's get you on your way, huh?"
"Mrrrrm." I guess it was too much to ask for everything in this place to speak English, but at least it seemed to understand me.
Questionable linguistic ability aside, I'd been hoping for a more lucid response, but at least the one I got meant that I got to see how his mouth moved. He appeared to have two mouths, actually, one right on top of the other. The roof of the bottom was the foundation of the one above it, though they were each lined with their own set of wide, blunt teeth.
"My sentiments exactly," I told him.
He didn't move. I frowned, trying not to worry about the Nemesis threat the message had made and focused instead on the task at hand. Every time I'd tried to do something that lined up with a usable skill I possessed, the Citadel had pushed a prompt through my brain. That had worked fine up until now, but it didn't let me know how to make use of one on purpose.
I stepped up to it and put both my hands on his brown hide. From a distance I'd assumed he was covered in a coat of short fur, but now I saw that the hair on his dense hide was coarse and wiry. Beneath it were a series of warm, banded armor plates. It was an odd cross between a cow and an armadillo, with a little bipedal insanity thrown in for good measure.
"Organic Scrutiny!" I shouted, making the creature flinch.
No luck. I suppose that had been more for 'items', of which this thing clearly wasn't...
"Identify! Inspect! Learn! Fucking Study Creature!"
"Do you need my help?" Toot asked from beside me. "Or would you rather go on making this poor beast deaf?"
I took my hands off the beast. "Toot! I'm glad to see you, man!"
The silver orb spun slowly, not appearing to care in the least for my enthusiasm. "I am here to aid you."
"Can I see a list of my skills?"
"That depends," he said. "Do you have the skill: Skill Listification?"
I blinked. "How would I know?"
"Adam, I am fucking with you. You can find a list of your skills by perusing the thing you insist on thinking of as a 'character sheet'. You found the combat log easily enough. It's on the level above that."
"Oh..." I hadn't thought to look there, even though it seemed obvious now. "Okay, give me a second."
"I could," he said, interrupting me. There was a sharpness to his voice that made me listen to him more attentively than I had back at the Glade. "Or you could just Assess this animal now. Losing yourself in your skills will deprive you of valuable time, and time is always of the essence in the Citadel."
I nodded thoughtfully. "He's on the way, huh?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. The Yvarre'en have been entrusted with a sacred duty. We would never endanger our enforced agreement with the Evvex by giving away privileged information, not even if the XAR in question was currently leaving the second floor and arriving on the first."
"Of course not," I said with a wink. "Forgive me for implying you would."
"Forgiven. Now, Assess if you must. I have to go." With that, he spun in a circle and was gone.
I didn't have to say the word or touch the animal. Knowing the name of the skill was enough.
Mappatee
Classification: Tameable Fauna
"These stout beasts once roamed in wide herds, grazing on the plants of all varieties. Their unique double-mouth allows them to combine the effects of various flora, whilst also enabling them to regurgitate the amalgamation for use by others. Usually docile and often loyal to a fault, a friendly Mappatee makes a fine addition to any settlement."
Abilities: Grind - Boil - Basic Alchemy (Flora)
Hit Points - 60
Physical Buffer - 3
Mental Ward - 0
Experience Value - 15
"So, you're what a Mappatee is..." I said, fishing around in my pocket for the Essence. Once I found it I held it up to him, and when it pulled in his direction I let it go.
The gem shrunk down to the size of a pebble and accelerated through the animal's head, hopefully freeing him from a life of stillness and saying "Mrrrrrrm" a whole bunch.
"Mrrrrrrrmmmrrrrrrmmmmmmmm," he said happily, stepping over and giving me a wet double-lick across my face that felt like I'd accidentally taken a sandpaper towel into a steam bath.
Well, one out of two ain't bad... "Okay, okay, I get it. We're friends now, right?"
He bumped up against me, and I did my best to hold my ground. I knew the description had called them docile, but this sort of camaraderie was almost as dangerous as an out and out attack. I thought about riding him, but he was too wide and too upright to make it work. Besides, the XAR had steered him around for who knows how long already. I felt better letting him be his own boss, for a while.
CAV's mouth needle was still stuck in the ground a few feet away. I pulled it out and slung it over my shoulder, just in case it came in handy later. The leg I'd blasted from it was there as well, but it was too big to take and I didn't want to spend the time on Dismantle. Best to leave it as a sign to others like it.
"You can come with me, if you want," I said to the Mappatee. "Not that I know where I'm going. And fair warning, the thing I killed is on its way back here."
He flexed a hoofed paw, pointing at the ground. I followed the gesture and spotted the big sack of cut flowers at the critter's feet, still laying where CAV had dropped it when it’d unplugged. "Good job! Now that we have some yummy flowers, how about making a couple of things for me on the way to wherever it is we're going? What do you say?"
"Mrrrrm!"
"Perfect. Mrrrrm indeed!"
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Night was falling hard, and the increasing darkness brought with it a wind cold enough to numb my face and make me glad I had pockets to put my hands in.
"Time to go," I told the Mappatee. I wasn't sure if he was my pet or my possession, but either way I didn't feel right about getting him to carry the big bag of flowers. Besides, if an unexpected gust tore it from his paws, it'd be my own fault for entrusting a creature with a task that I was clearly capable of doing myself.
Turning around a couple of times trying to get my bearings proved to be a bad idea. Now that I was out of sight of the Glade, the unfamiliar planetscape didn't hold any landmarks that meant anything to me. I had completely lost track of which direction I'd come from, an
d even though the stiffening breeze had finally carried the fog away, the thick darkness left behind was equally unreliable.
What little light there was shone down from the frozen clouds, as if each of them held a moon hidden somewhere within. It was enough to let me pick out the vague shape of the nearby Mappatee, but that was about it.
Now that I was completely disorientated, the only thing to do was to pick a direction and start walking. I had no idea what sort of ability CAV would have to track me. Maybe if I didn't know where I was, I'd accidentally be unpredictable enough to elude it.
That was the plan, at least. I had to admit to myself that it wasn't a great one, but it was the only one I had.
I was going to have to lead the Mappatee, crossing my fingers that he wanted to remain with me enough not to wander off. The description had said that he was loyal though, and he certainly seemed affectionate.
My worries were completely unfounded, since he stayed right behind me as I walked. "Mmmmmmr," he mumbled, bumping me with his shoulder and changing my course as soon as our journey began.
I ignored him, pretending not to understand and trying to head off in the original direction I'd chosen again. Sure enough, I got another, more insistent, "Mmmmmmrr!", followed by a jostle that only barely allowed me to stay on my feet. He gave my shoulder a wet lick by way of apology for the rough treatment.
Both times the creature had pointed me in the same, new direction. Without any idea of what I was heading into, I had no reason to favor one destination over any other. If he walked me straight into the jaws of death, at least I'd know not to trust him next time.
"Okay," I said, wiping Mappatee saliva from my sleeve. "We'll do it your way. But I'll be the one in front, okay?"
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