Welp. It finally happened. My luck ran out.

I’m not sure what happened, either. I had been sharing a [Mooch]ed breakfast with the big fella when it had suddenly decided to roar out and get on its hindlegs. The sudden movement had dislodged me from my little hideout between its teeth and no amount of [Grip] had saved me from sliding down its throat. I doubted that it had even noticed me dropping down, honestly. Not that it mattered either way, I had much bigger problems now. Like the fact that I was sliding through a pitch-black pulsating canal that I could only assume to be the beast’s throat… esophagus? Did they have different names for animals? It was tight, wet and generally very unpleasant, before I landed on a small pile of mush… likely the breakfast I’d seen earlier.

So now I was inside its stomach… and probably doomed. It was so stupid, such an unceremonious end to my tale, that I could have laughed or cried, but this body was incapable of either. A slow painful death getting dissolved by stomach acids… that really wasn’t how I wanted to go. But what could I do? This thing ate ants and ant-sized insects like me by the hundred, what could I, a single little bug, do? No amount of human wit or my skills could get me out of this bind. Was all that was left for me to do to lie down and give up?

Hell no.

I was not going to take my death lying down! I could probably not do anything with this silly tiny body of mine, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to make the big fellow regret as much as possible that it had eaten me alive!

Yikes! Suddenly everything turned sideways, tossing me around like a ragdoll along with huge amounts of undigested greenery. Okay, I’m sorry, I’m not going to do that, promise, just stand straight aga- oh, you’ve stopped and stood up? Haha, got you! Did you think I was going to keep that hastily made promise? Of course not, I panicked, and this was a matter of my life and death anyway, so all bets are off! Besides, you probably can’t hear me anyway, big guy, right? If you can, you’d be rolling around again to stop me, so how about it?

… nothing? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Alright, let’s get to work before it changes its mind again. Using the pointy tips of my feet, I skewered as many half-chewed leaves and whatever other hard materials I could with my four short legs, and shoveled more mass underneath myself, making the makeshiftiest of makeshift boats, which was not made easier by the darkness surrounding me. I had to feel my way around everything, and more than once did I set the tips of my front claws into a wet substance that immediately began to chew through my carapace. Stomach acids, no doubt, here to break me down into a harmless nutritious slurry. I had to be wary.

When the raft I had put together broke apart beneath my feet, I soon abandoned that plan and settled for just wading through the acids as fast as I possibly could, using the skewered greens as a buffer between myself and the deadly liquid. At the same time, I opened and kept an eye on my status - I’d learned my lesson from before, when my inattention had caused my class to be picked for me. I wasn’t sure what difference it would make knowing how low my HP was, it wasn’t like I could flee when it got low, but it was better than not knowing at all.

… actually since I was at it, why not pick up that skill? Giant Slayer. I had no idea how much of a difference it would make, but I had three skill points that would just go to waste. Skills, please! Select Giant Slayer! Choose! … actually what the hell, since I was already at it, let’s pick Night Vision as well.

Insufficient Biomass to purchase racial skill [Night Vision].

Oh, right. Night Vision was an Uncommon Skill, those needed two Biomass, and I only had one… ahh, whatever, Chitin Carapace then. Actually that was a better choice, right now I needed defense, not vision. I could just wade forward until I hit a stomach wall.

Purchase skill [Giant Slayer] for 2 Skill points? [Yes] [No]

Purchase racial skill [Chitin Carapace] for 1 Biomass?

[Yes] [No]

Yes and yes please!

You have gained a new Skill [Giant Slayer] (1)! You have gained a new Racial Skill [Chitin Carapace] (1)!

I was briefly overcome by a warm feeling not unlike the one when I had leveled up, though it only lasted a brief second. However, I also got an itch on my back, and I heard creaking and cracking. That had to be my carapace evolving, if I had to guess… ahhh, if only I could scratch it, but these stupid legs did not bend that way! And now really wasn’t the time to search out something solid to rub my back against, I was literally being liquidated alive here!

Fortunately the buffer of leaves I had made worked out well enough, because they were only slowly dissolving from what I could tell. Also, I did not feel pain, though I could feel the chitin slowly being taken apart by the acids I was wading through, which was really discomforting… maybe insects of my size did not have pain receptors? Or the chitin was acting as a buffer before it reached my sensitive inner tissue? Either way I wasn’t going to stay and find out! So I powered through the very distracting itch and pressed on forward, even as the itch on my back moved downwards and I could hear the splashing sounds of what I assumed were old parts of my shell, dropping into the acid. A glance at my HP showed that it was still high, but every so often it ticked down by a hundredth, urging me to hurry.

Then I bumped face-first into a soft but firm surface. The big guy’s stomach wall, it had to be… there was no way it was anything else. From what little I remembered from biology class, at least human stomachs were designed to resist digestive fluids and all kinds of pressure, since they were going to stretch around incoming foodstuffs. But sharp things were where they drew the line, and I had just the thing. Hoping that the acids hadn’t blunted the pointy tip of my front claws too much, I began to stab them, standing now only on my hindlegs. Stab! Stab! Stab!

It was no use. The stomach walls bent and warped a little bit around my claws but I did not have the strength to pierce through. They just came back into place as soon as I let off the pressure. Damnit! My teeth weren’t going to be any better here, they were way too small. Not to mention if I opened my mouth I might swallow acid, and then no amount of carapace would save me!

Suddenly, a sharp pain came up through my legs, shaking me to my core. I thought that the stomach acids had dissolved the chitin and I was done for… but then the pain turned into a light itch and I heard more light splashing sounds. Was the carapace extending to my legs? Did that mean that- yeeeeeoooooowowowowowww! … ouch… yes… yes apparently it did. Damn! My front legs hurt the worst of all! But even though there was not a speck of light in this horrible place, I felt as though I could see the growth before my eyes: fresh, strong chitin, pointed and unaffected by the acids, since I was still pressing them into the wall in front of me. New claws that were not blunted yet! Maybe I might be able to accomplish something more here?

Also, what’s with the roaring and thrashing about, big guy? Something going on out there, are you fighting a lion, or whatever predators prey on something that looks a lot like a rhinoceros? No, wait, lions didn’t prey on rhinos… maybe a poacher. It couldn’t be me, I was barely doing anything in here. But now, with my sharpened clawtips, maybe…?

--Elsewhere---

“Lady Essa, Ser Rovik!” shouted Fen. “The beast is at just under an eighth of its health, I’ll leave it to you from here!” He wasn’t comfortable with risking another shot, as an unenchanted arrow would just bounce off the [Thick Skin] and an enchanted one was like as not to bring the Ironback Charger too close to death for comfort. Besides, mana recharged slowly for non-mages like himself, he was not keen on wasting it. He would already need a week to regenerate the mana that he had spent today.

The heavy beast gave a weakened angry roar as brown-barked vines coiled around its legs like snakes, growing little leaves on their surface and creaking as they hardened. It was fully entangled and unable to move away. As he had expected, Essa’s druidic magic was more than enough to hold even a creature of this tier… he wondered just how high her level was. Not that she would ever tell him, of course, but his best guess would have her at least at level thirty. It was most likely a lot higher though, considering her age. Ser Rovik, holding his greatshield up, stepped in. In his off hand, Fen noticed a gnarled wand whose tip was glowing with a blue light. It was hidden by the buckler on his arm, but Fen’s sharp eyes did not miss such details. He laid down on the tree to have a better view. He was not going to miss seeing a magic item in action.

“[Amplify Damage]!” the knight shouted with the wand aimed at the creature, and a lightning bolt shot from the glowing tip at the Ironback Charger, making it glow with a soft light.

Then it exploded.

---Elsewhere---

When the beast’s insides began to glow I just assumed that it was doing something dangerous. I wouldn’t put it beyond the rhinoceros-lookalikes of this world to also breathe fire or something. And if this one did, I wasn’t exactly in a position to stop it. So, I tried to ignore the glow and just stabbed at its stomach wall again. Nothing, and I seriously mean nothing, could have prepared me for what happened next.

A slew of notifications flooded my vision, so many that I couldn’t clearly see the ‘real’ world anymore:

[Amplify Damage] (10) (Magic Item D̸̰̼̰͇͈͈͚̂̉͒ȩ̸̣̱̰̝̜͊̾̋̔̀͆̐̆̓͘͜s̷̨͇̣͓͖̟̬̰̍͗̇͊͝t̵̡̖̩́͑͠r̶̬͈̓͑̽̓̈́̒̔̐̆̒ǫ̵̧̮̥̳̮̖̀̓̎̓̓͒̿̄̚ẙ̶̜̠è̸̩̖̍̄̔̋͠͝ŗ̷̰̫͕̲͕̃̔̋ͅ'̶̼̲̙̏̑̓s̴̳͊ ̷̰̦̼̯̭̯̠̪̫̔Wa̸̗̰̟̻̋͂̌̓̏̍͛n̷̰̯̟̝͒̕̚͜d̴̛͖̣̲͓̣̬̫͉͂́̚ͅ) activated! Damage amplified to 1000%!] [Giant Slayer] (1) activated! Damage amplified by 10%! [Amplify Damage] (10) (Magic Item D̸̰̼̰͇͈͈͚̂̉͒ȩ̸̣̱̰̝̜͊̾̋̔̀͆̐̆̓͘͜s̷̨͇̣͓͖̟̬̰̍͗̇͊͝t̵̡̖̩́͑͠r̶̬͈̓͑̽̓̈́̒̔̐̆̒ǫ̵̧̮̥̳̮̖̀̓̎̓̓͒̿̄̚ẙ̶̜̠è̸̩̖̍̄̔̋͠͝ŗ̷̰̫͕̲͕̃̔̋ͅ'̶̼̲̙̏̑̓s̴̳͊ ̷̰̦̼̯̭̯̠̪̫̔Wa̸̗̰̟̻̋͂̌̓̏̍͛n̷̰̯̟̝͒̕̚͜d̴̛͖̣̲͓̣̬̫͉͂́̚ͅ) activated! Damage amplified to 1000%!] [Giant Slayer] (1) activated! Damage amplified by 10%! [Amplify Damage] (10) (Magic Item D̸̰̼̰͇͈͈͚̂̉͒ȩ̸̣̱̰̝̜͊̾̋̔̀͆̐̆̓͘͜s̷̨͇̣͓͖̟̬̰̍͗̇͊͝t̵̡̖̩́͑͠r̶̬͈̓͑̽̓̈́̒̔̐̆̒ǫ̵̧̮̥̳̮̖̀̓̎̓̓͒̿̄̚ẙ̶̜̠è̸̩̖̍̄̔̋͠͝ŗ̷̰̫͕̲͕̃̔̋ͅ'̶̼̲̙̏̑̓s̴̳͊ ̷̰̦̼̯̭̯̠̪̫̔Wa̸̗̰̟̻̋͂̌̓̏̍͛n̷̰̯̟̝͒̕̚͜d̴̛͖̣̲͓̣̬̫͉͂́̚ͅ) activated! Damage amplified to 1000%!] [Giant Slayer] (1) activated! Damage amplified by 10%!

It was the same two messages, over and over, covering every bit of my vision, layering over each other, like a computer virus opening new processes until the system overloaded and crashed. Which was pretty much what happened to me: a pain worse than anything I had ever felt before filled me, as though a white-hot knife was thrust into my head. Perhaps the flood of messages was too much for my insect brain to handle. Mercifully, it passed out and my vision went black.

When I came to, I found that I couldn’t move. My body was frozen, refusing to so much as twitch the tiniest muscle, and yet I was fully aware of everything. Like that everything around me was dark as the night sky, that I was standing, and that there was a giant man leaning over me.

He said something that I didn’t quite catch. Weirdly enough, it felt as though his words were like water trying to run through my fingers, evading understanding, but I could just barely make out something coherent. I focused, and listened.

“... so there’s ‘nother damn fat bug… a’right, wha’s happened this time?” I heard him finish his question. Wonderful! Now that I was concentrating, I could understand his words as though he spoke english, albeit with a heavy accent!

That aside, the man ticked every single box for a stereotypical fantasy-world dwarf: I’d just thought he was a giant, but that was compared to me, of course. He looked like a short stocky human with a glorious thick brown beard reaching down to his navel and braided with silver rings, and he was wearing a thick leather apron over a dirty cloth shirt and soft leather trousers. I also noted a short hammer and other tools attached to the belt around his waist.

… also, hold on a second. Fat bug? He did not mean me, right? Hey, I am taking offense to that, I’m not fat! Or am I? I had stuffed my stomach with mooched food and blood, but I’d not put on that much weight, had I? Hey, you, dwarf! Can you hear me? First of all, I’m not fat! And second, whatever is going on, I don’t mean to cause trouble, alright? Just let me go and I’ll not… infest your house or latch onto your pet dog or whatever it is you’re worried about.

Judging by his lack of response and how he did not actually address me, but instead waved his hand around and summoned a heavy book to his hands, I had to assume that he either could not see me or wasn’t interested in talking to me and telling me the situation. So all I could do was to wait and watch, and continue to focus on what he said.

“Blast it, wha’s this… an [Amplify Damage] magic item? Who in… ah coulda sworn we’d not approved tha effect fer distributin’... an’ the [Giant Slayer] skill caused a repeatin’ loop?”

Magic item? Repeating loop? That sounded more like game mechanics to me than the real world. And just who was this guy to see what had happened? Also, how did he know that I had the [Giant Slayer] skill? I hadn’t told anyone, and I’d only just gotten my figurative hands on it!

Actually, based on the other words he’d said, I could fathom a solid guess. In fact, there was little doubt in my mind! I was standing before… a game developer. There was no mistaking the cliché signs: that unkempt neckbeard he did not have the time to shave, the dirty face covered in little scars from acne that resulted from eating cheap fast food, the blisters on his fingers from spending sleepless nights in a crunch period, hacking away at a keyboard or holding a cracked digital pen because your boss refused to buy new equipment… Maybe he was a cosplayer too, or perhaps he was in charge of graphic design for medieval blacksmiths or something, that was why he was dressed that way, what with the leather apron, the hammer and such. Truly a master of dedicating himself to his craft, immersing himself into the characters he created!

“Damn it all, whose damned work is… ah! Tha’s… blast it! Shoulda recognized her handiwork… IRENA!” the dev yelled. A glowing crystal ball appeared before his face, and the head of someone appeared in it a few seconds later. I had to presume that that head belonged to this so-called Irena. From the angle I was looking at the sphere from my spot on the ground, I could only catch a glimpse of long locks of black hair.

“Thorgrimm?” a sharp womanly voice resonated from the crystal, which glowed a bit brighter. Almost like those fanciful music displays showing volume. “What reason have you for disturbing me? I’m in the midst of delivering a divine rev-”

“T’hells with yer divine revelations!” the stocky man - Thorgrimm - interrupted her and stomped his foot like an angry child. “Ye’ve almost caused anoth’r Shard t’get destroy’d!”

“Another Sha- whatever are you on about?”

“Ah’m talkin’ aboot yer unapproved magic blastin’ item! Ain’t ah told ye tha’ [Amplify Damage] ain’t gotten through testin’ yet?!”

“[Amplify Damage]? Ah, that. Look, that thing’s been in ‘testing’ for two months and I had stuff to do with it! I couldn’t wait any longer!”

“We’ve got a damn backlog! Hav’ ye got any idea jus’ how long it takes t’ cross-test the bloody submissions all of ye put in?”

I heard Irena sigh and her locks bounced a bit as she shook her head. “Fine, I’ll have to put this revelation on hold. Can I come in?”

“Oh, by all blastin’ means ye can!” Thorgrimm replied while passing a hand through his beard. The crystal sphere vanished, and a few seconds later a door appeared seemingly out of nowhere, swinging open to let someone through. In walked a veritable goddess of a woman of tall and slender build, with immaculately tanned skin and sharp bright eyes. She was wearing a modern-looking black dress with a long skirt, and I caught several glances of her bare feet on the ground as she strutted the few steps over to Thorgrimm.

Oh, and she had a pair of long furry ears poking out the top of her head, amidst her hair.

Not that what I had heard and was now seeing before me changed much about my game dev theory. Well, maybe a bit. I’d already assumed that this whole place had a system structured like a game, albeit one that wasn’t particularly well designed and full of issues. That theory was reinforced by Thorgrimm’s remarks about testing ‘submissions’ placed by Irena and other, as-of-yet unknown individuals, but the remark about a divine revelation added a layer to it. Apparently, I was in the presence of gods.

Game developer-gods. Hah. That was probably what some of the small and independent dev teams working on their dream game felt like: creator gods turning entire worlds from fantasy to reality. So calling them that was kind of fitting!

Why did I not freak out more? Because frankly, I was jaded by now. I was already living my life in this new world with one foot in and out of the grave, narrowly escaping death with dumb luck and human wit, at the hands of creatures like the big rhinoceros-like beast that could crush me without so much as realizing it, let alone caring. What difference did it make as to whether it was a monster or a god? They were both so many magnitudes stronger than me that it made no real difference. Besides, it wouldn’t accomplish anything. I had no way to move, to communicate, nothing. I could only wait and listen to this very interesting conversation.

“Very well, I’m here now. What is this about?” asked Irena as she stood over the dwarf, towering over him. His shoulders reached up to her waist, such was the height difference. Thorgrimm seemed not to care, he thrusted the book in his hands at her.

“Check tha damn logs! See it?”

A pair of reading glasses materialized on the wolf-eared woman’s face. Hold on, how did she keep those from sliding off? She had no regular ears to hook the glasses onto, did she? Still, they didn’t fall off as she flew through the entries.

“I don’t see any Shard-destroying power at hand here. Some animal, an Ironback Charger, was-”

“Tha’s exactly it!” He snatched the book back out of her hands and hit the back of his stubby fingers against the pages. “’ere we’ve got some bug -” he waved his hand towards me as he said that, without so much as sparing me a glance - “pokin’ around inside its predator’s stomach. Dealin’ a whole 0,01 damage. Then yer magic item, [Destroyer’s Wand], sticks tha Charger with a times-ten [Amplify Damage] effect, damage is 0,1 now. Next, tha bug’s [Giant Slayer] skill takes that damage an’ applies its own ten percent boost on top, 0,11. So far so good, right? Bu’ ohh, wha’s this? Yer [Amplify Damage] effect triggers ‘cause there’s a new blastin’ number now, so it takes them ten percent that’s comin’ from [Giant Slayer] and amplifies ‘em times ten! 0,2 damage! An’ that again triggers [Giant Slayer] ‘cause 0,1 damage was added, tha’s gettin’ boosted ta 0,11, totalin’ 0,21, then [Amplify Damage] triggers again, thus cousin’ a repeatin’ loop!” He flipped through several pages. “An’ that loop repeats until the 0,01 damage needle prick’s big enough t’ down the Ironback in one blastin’ blow!”

The dwarf-game-dev-god was all in a rage, I barely could keep up with his explanation. But where was that magic item coming from? I’d not used anything like that! Still, that sounded like a terrible oversight, to be able to continuously loop two effects to deal infinite damage… yikes! Wait, was I being put on trial here for bug abuse? Would they ban me, which in this world probably meant killing me?!

Irena’s face reflected some concern and she glanced over at my immobile self. Though it was just for the briefest of moments, I felt incredibly exposed and vulnerable. “Well, I’ll give you that that’s a bad issue if it enables a one-hit kill at this level difference, but [Amplify Damage] only applies to living creatures, not environments, so there’s no Shard-destroying potential at hand. Besides, I thought I had a contingency planned. The [Amplify Damage] debuff should only apply to a single instance of damage, not over a period of time.”

“Yah, well ye royally blastin’ screwed that up!” Thorgrimm replied, his face slightly red. “Do ye realize jus’ what this could do? Nev’r mind that it canna destroy Shards! Wha’ do ye think ye an’ I are?”

With crossed arms and a raised eyebrow, she replied: “Gods, of course. What of it?”

Hah, I knew it. I watched as Irena’s puzzled look slowly turned into one of horror as she realized what Thorgrimm was getting at.

“You mean that-”

“Yessir, ye’ve created a god-slayin’ level exploit tha’ anyone with yer item an’ an Uncommon skill could use.” He passed his hand through his beard again. “We can consider ahselves lucky tha’ all tha’s happened was an animal gettin’ killed ‘fore we caught it. Ah’m immediately puttin’ in a hard fix… [Amplify Damage]’s gettin’ a hard once-per-instance activation, an’ ah’m reducin’ the effect to 5%... no, 2% damage boost per level.” He glared at the wolf-eared goddess as she opened her mouth to protest. “Until we’re done with testin’, then we’ll look inta powerin’ it up. Possibly. Bu’ a ten times boost ain’t happenin’, tha’s way too strong.”

“Fine… I guess my revelation will have to include a note about that fix.”

“Yer revelation? Why’s…” Thorgrimm asked, then paused and narrowed his eyes. “Wait. Don’ tell me ye’ve gone an’ put the effect in the pool so ye could give yer Paladins another powerful item?!”

“If you have to know, yes! Norvek’s done the exact same thing first and nobody stepped in, so I don’t see what the problem is! If he’s playing dirty in our contest, then so can I!” Irena replied. The fur on her ears actually bristled a bit and her fists were tightly clenched. This made the dwarf grunt and pass a hand over his face, as if he could somehow wipe off his annoyance.

“If Norvek’s breakin’ rules, ye’ve gotta submit a blastin’ report. Ah’ve enough trouble without yer little feuds”, he said.

“You think I didn’t? Problem is that it takes ages to get looked into, and by then Norvek’s way ahead.” She looked quite annoyed as she waved her hand at me. “So, what do we do about the perpetrator? Do we just kill it and be done with it?”

“No. Th’ rules say we can’t punish accidental use o’ exploits an’ bugs. An’ ye know ‘ow direct interference in the mortal world’s forbidden.”

“Come on, it’s just a bug. It won’t be missed.”

“Irena, yer already in hot water fer tha’ unapproved item of yers. Don’ make it any worse on ye by takin’ out yer frustrations aboot yer uncovered scheme on a mortal creature. Ah’ll not give ye a pass fer breakin’ the rules this blatantly, ye know.”

“Fine, fine, mister rules lawyer. If you’re gonna threaten to rat me out I guess I’ve no choice”, Irena grumbled, raising her hands in a half-hearted surrendering gesture. “Still, that’s entirely too much EXP for a singular kill. We need to reset its stats.”

“No can do fer its level. It’s got enough EXP t’ trigger the evolution menu, ah can’t yank it outta that. Bu’ it ain’t too much, jes’ EXP up ta level ten.”

“So it gained seven essentially free levels?”

“Ayep, bu’ tha’s not too bad. Otherwise it woulda been EXP fer fifty-one levels total, bu’ since evolution caps yer gains an’ all, it’s not gainin’ more ’n that.. ‘Sides, ah’m resettin’ its skills so it ain’t gainin’ much.” Unable to plead my case, I could only watch as the dwarf conjured a new book, flipped through a few pages, then pulled out a quill. As he set it down, I felt as though the tip of the writing implement was stabbed through my head, and twisted around as he wrote something down. Well, perhaps not quite as painful as that procedure would be, but it was definitely very uncomfortable.

“Thar we goes. Le’s send it back now, ya… ah, hol’ up. I’s been in mah domain, wha’ if it gained...”

“A trait? Don’t be silly, Thorgrimm, it doesn’t have the capacity to understand what’s going on. If the human that used the item came here, maybe we should’ve taken a look, but this bug?”

“Hm. Ah’ll stick a Block in jes’ t’ be safe. By the way, yer actin’ awful hurried ‘bout gettin’ this over with, aren’t ya. Don’t needa remind you tha’ yer goin’ nowhere, yah? That report’s still gettin’-”

I could not hear more than that, because once again I was enveloped by darkness that cut me off. This time however I felt my senses return almost immediately, and judging from the sense that I once more had something beneath my feet, I was back to the real world.

That was… quite an adventure. And I had several notifications waiting for me! But first, I should perhaps get out of where I was, because I did not think this was somewhere I wanted to stay. The notifications could wait, as curious as I was to see what there was.

So to recap… I had apparently killed the big guy, which was called an Ironback Charger? Cool name, actually I’d say it fits better than “rhinoceros” to the animals back from my world. That had to explain why everything around me was still and unmoving. I’d accidentally used an exploit in this system, and I’d been dragged before an administrator for it. They’d talked about the exploit and how to proceed, with me caught up in the infighting. I guess that for once, being less than human in body had worked in my favor, because I passed under their radar for the most part! I had a strong hunch that if they knew I could think on a human level, they would not have let me off that easy. I thought all this as I began to feel my way along the walls, looking for any gaps or holes in the dead beast’s stomach. Surely I must’ve punched a hole in that if I killed it, right?

Thinking back to the conversation between the gods, I also had a different realization: the language that they had been talking in wasn’t English at all. Rather, it was something that had been translated in my head. Ugh, that was a weird sensation! And yet, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Hmm… Skills, please.

The window popped up as usual, but I made a point to ignore it and push it into a corner of my vision. Soon enough, I saw my suspicions confirmed: if I looked straight at it, everything was okay, but if I just barely caught a glimpse from the corner of my vision, I saw no letters of the alphabet I knew - the phoenixic or phonetican alphabet? Something like that. Instead what I saw were glyphs and symbols that looked entirely unfamiliar. Hah, maybe it was the cyrillic alphabet, the one that they used in Russia and the slavic countries. It was hard to tell since I could only see them out of the corners of my vision. Anytime I tried to get a clearer view I just saw english, but I also noticed a sensation that I would probably not have noticed had I not known to watch out for it. It felt as though something placed foreign information into my head, that I assimilated without even realizing that it was planted. It was the same feeling as when I had listened to the two deities - Thorgrimm and Irena - but far less intense.

I closed the skills window and tried to comprehend what this meant as I resumed my efforts to find a way out before this carcass became my coffin. I’d needed to focus on listening to the conversation to understand what they said. I needed to focus, to such a minor degree that it became negligible since I already focused when reading, to understand what my windows were telling me. So, did that mean that the gods spoke in the same language that the system screens were written in? And did that, in turn, mean that they had written everything, that they were the creators of this whole thing? It would fit in with what I knew. But I may also be getting ahead of myself in thinking like that: they might just coincidentally be using the same language. After all, I could speak English but that didn’t make me the author of Shakespeare’s and Poe’s works. The gods might just have access to parts of the system, being able to implement new effects like Irena had done, or to change stuff, like Thorgrimm.

But then why was it translated? Was it some sort of perk to that magical language, that it translated itself so that the gods could be understood by all their believers? Not that I was complaining, it was very helpful being able to read the windows.

Anyway, I was really getting sidetracked… I should focus on the situation at hand.

Chances were I was still in the Ironback’s stomach, which was not where I wanted to be. Lingering stomach acids and limited oxygen supply aside, I had no idea who or what had used that item… the text had been scrambled in the notifications, but I’d hear Thorgrimm say it. “Destroyer Wand”. Very fitting for what had happened. At any rate, the user might still be around, and they might be very unhappy that I’d stolen their kill. So there were no reasons to stay, and several reasons to high-tail it out of here as fast as my little legs would carry me.

My main problem and question was: high-tailing it out of here was good, but where to? Or more specifically, what way was I going to take to get out? I didn’t have [Night Vision] so I couldn’t see still. So when I found what I presumed to be an opening, I could only start pushing and shuffling and trying to somehow open a path outside, while hoping that I hadn’t accidentally found the back exit of its stomach, and was worming my way into its digestive tract…

Phoenician alphabet! That was the one!