The tunnel Tormacc was in led to a mole nest very similar to the one he had already cleared out with a few long tunnels leading to a centrally located nesting space. Had there been more moles clumped up in the nesting area he would have had an actual fight on his hands, but there were only two, the rest spread out in the tunnels. Now they were dead, and he was on to the next tunnel.

The next three tunnels went the same way, with him sweeping through and decimating the local mole population. Sadly no more moles imploded into crystals, each kill only giving him a single Essence each. But he had no idea how often that happened, as it could average one in a hundred or one in a million, or even be a one-time event. But he was happy enough with his axe. He had no specific memories of what kind and quality of weapons he had used in the past, but this axe felt perfect. His only regret was he didn’t have the necessary supplies to maintain it. It should last him for a while, but if he didn’t find some oil and a grindstone it would eventually go dull and rust.

It was in the sixth tunnel when something changed. The beginning seemed the same as all the others, but while the other tunnels had all led to nests with branching paths, this tunnel was a straight shot to a final room. Approaching the end of the tunnel, Tormacc could hear a mole digging at the rock and eating the red crystal. It had happened a few times now that he interrupted moles during their meal time, so he thought nothing of it. When he reached the end of the tunnel was when he realized something was different.

The tunnel ended in a large room, larger than anything he had come across except the main cave that was exposed to the rainforest and the cavern in his original tunnel. The far wall was entirely made up of red crystal and there was a single mole devouring the crystal at a pace noticeable to the naked eye. As soon as he entered the mole turned to face him, snarling viciously. Immediately on guard, he cautiously entered the room, axe at the ready.

The other moles he fought seemed like normal animals, albeit oversized ones, their red eyes their strangest characteristic. This mole was different. Smack dab in the middle of its forehead was a red gem that was glowing the same color as its eyes. Tormacc would have to be an idiot to not associate the mole’s berserk red-eyed rage with the red crystal they ate, and just by looking at the glowing gem on its forehead, he knew this mole was bad news. There were other indicators too, like how the mole was selfishly hoarding a whole room of red crystal all to itself. The other moles nested together, but this one was all alone with a large food source.

The two sides faced each other, sizing up the opposition. A single moment was all it took, and the gem mole charged. Tormacc was ready. He knew this mole was going to be stronger than the others, but despite being prepared, he couldn’t fully react in time. He only saw a flash of black and red before he was thrown spinning to the side, three streaks of red blooming on his chest. He would have been dead if he had reacted even a millisecond slower. He had been so close to fully jumping out of the way, but its claws were just long enough to make their mark.

Ignoring the stinging pain on his chest, he clambered to his feet, already leaping to the side in anticipation of another charge. He was correct in his guess, and this time he dodged away safely. Knowing his previous reactionary strategy wouldn’t work, he continued moving, zigzagging around the cave. The gem mole was much faster than the other moles, but it still lacked intelligence and the ability to make sharp turns, allowing his erratic movements to evade its pursuit. After a minute of adjusting to the rhythm of its charges, he struck, swinging down with his axe as the mole passed him by.

But instead of the axe severing its spine, the red gem on its forehead pulsed, creating a bright red barrier. When his axe struck the barrier it felt like he had struck a rock wall, and he almost lost his grip on his weapon from the rebounding force of his failed attack. The mole squealed in rage, before turning and charging once again, even angrier than before. He hadn’t expected his attack to be so completely stifled, and it left him lacking any way to generate momentum in the fight. Almost all of his energy was spent dodging, which would have been fine if he could counter-attack. But if his attacks were all going to be blocked, he needed a new plan.

While desperately trying to think of how to proceed he sent a few probing attacks at the mole to similar effect as the first. Each time the gem on its forehead pulsed and his strike was repelled by the red barrier. On his fourth strike he noticed something. Even though his attacks were seemingly meaningless, each time they were blocked the mole let out an enraged shriek. Perhaps the mole didn’t know its own defensive capabilities, but it was also possible it didn’t have infinite uses of the red shield.

Without a better plan, Tormacc committed to a battle of attrition. Would the red shield break first or would he lose strength and get gored by the mole’s claws? The battle raged on, and with each swing of his axe he hoped the gem would fail to light up. But each time his attack was foiled, the red gem seemingly possessing an inexhaustible energy supply.

After what felt like the hundredth attack his energy started to wane. His attacks grew less frequent and he had to spend more effort on dodging. By comparison, the mole seemed the same as always, relentless in its charges and bursting with vigor. Starting to grow desperate, he decided on one last stand. He had to stake it all since he was going to give out first. Turning to face the mole, he grasped his axe in a two-handed grip, winding up his strike. When the mole charged, he brought his axe around from behind his shoulder, using his whole body to generate even the slightest bit of extra power.

His weapon met the charge head on, and then he was sliding across the floor before crumping up against the far wall. His legs were killing him. He had either broken something or torn a muscle. His right shoulder blade was also on fire. Blearily looking up, he half expected to see the mole bearing down on him, his last sight before death its fiendish red eyes and snapping jaws. But once the stars cleared from his vision he could see the mole slumped on the ground in the middle of the cave, his axe stuck in its head.

He only truly relaxed when the mole quivered once before imploding, disappearing and leaving behind a light blue crystal and the gem in its forehead. But with relaxing came pain. After the adrenaline wore off his body felt like one big bruise. Individually, no injury was as bad as what happened to his arm before, but taken all together, he was in worse shape. He wanted to go over and inspect the loot, but when he tried to move, he cried out in pain. On second thought, maybe he would stay where he was. The loot could wait. He tried to gather his energy and focus on healing his wounds, but soon drifted off to sleep, worn out by the prolonged battle.

When he woke up he felt refreshed. He was still in pain and didn’t really want to move, and staying still wasn’t so bad, at least so far. Nothing had come to bother him while he was asleep, likely because this was the room of the boss mole. It probably wanted to keep all the red crystal to itself, which was why it was alone in here.

Knowing he was in a relatively safe place, Tormacc focused on recovery. The meat he had in his pack was mostly squashed, but luckily the water flask was okay. The recovery went a lot slower without easy access to a lot of food, one of the downsides to the mole imploding, but he could always get more mole meat. The crystals didn’t seem as common.

Two days later he wasn’t fully healed, but he was out of water and food, so it was time to get going. Despite not being in peak condition he should be able to take on a few normal moles. Getting up, he did some stretches to warm his body up before going over to finally inspect his loot. First up was the red gem. Taking a close look, he couldn’t find anything special about it, but unlike the red crystal, he was one hundred percent certain it was valuable in some way, so he put it into his pack to save for later.

Moving on, he picked up the blue crystal. It was identical to the white one except for the color. The white crystal had shined like a white flower illumited by sunlight. The blue crystal was like the sky on a clear day. The crystal was the same size as the previous one and looking into it felt like looking into a sea of bright blue air. Similar to the first crystal, this one also pulsed with energy before he heard a voice in his head. But this time the contents were different.

“Essence or tattoo?”

He wasn’t expecting that. At most he thought the blue crystal would be a different grade, giving him better rewards, but apparently it was more than that, with completely different options compared to the white crystal. He knew what Essence was, although not how much he would get if he chose that option, but what was a tattoo? He doubted it was as simple as some ink drawn on his skin.

He waffled on which to choose for a while, but eventually decided on the tattoo. He didn’t know what it was, but he could get Essence from other sources, which meant the tattoo should be rarer. Mentally responding “tattoo”, he felt the crystal pulse three times before he stumbled and almost fell over from the sudden pain. It felt like someone was taking a hot iron to the area behind his left ear. Reaching up, he felt smooth skin with no indication of what was going on. He would need a mirror to see what the tattoo looked like.

A few immeasurably long minutes later it was done, and he relaxed his tense muscles. Next time he would be more prepared for the pain. Once more feeling around his ear, he could still only feel normal skin, and because the tattoo was mostly covered by his ear it would likely be all but invisible to a casual observer. After the tattoo finished being inscribed, he heard another voice in his head.

“Obtained Tattoo of Perception.”

With the voice came a rush of clarity. Looking around, he felt like he could see facets in the stone walls that were invisible before. Everything felt more vibrant, even the slight brush of air on his skin and the sound of his own breathing. He was incredibly satisfied with his choice. Unless tattoos were common it was correct to choose this over Essence. When exploring an unknown environment information was at a premium, and anything that enhanced his senses was a godsend.

With his loot secured, Tormacc set off to clear out the rest of the mole tunnels. There were quite a few sources of water in the tunnels, and after clearing out the moles the cave system could serve as his base of operations for exploring the rainforest above. Unlike caves, rainforests were teeming with life. There would be no safe place to rest, and while he wasn’t planning on getting injured again, even the best laid plans fell through after contact with the enemy. Much better to have a backup for when things, as they inevitably did, went to shit.