Once I was deep enough that the light from outside wasn’t reaching me anymore, I had to break out the horns I had previously collected. They shone a faint blue that was just bright enough to light the way forward. I kept one in my hand, holding it overhead, and tossed another further down in the distance like a glowstick. When I made my way back to it, I picked it up and repeated the process until I exited the sloping earthen corridor into a large space.

The Carbuncles had expertly carved out a cavernous area from the dirt. From where I stood, I could see all the other exits leading to the surface as well as multiple offshoot tunnels between those burrowing deeper in the warren.

In the middle of the place was a wide pit filed with rain water, collected via furrows excavated from the hole to each of the warren’s entry points. Pretty ingenious. It’d stop their hideout from flooding during storms and would give them drinking water in one fell swoop.

It stunk something awful in here, like a mixture of wet fur, moldy basement and old uncleaned cat litter. Just like the plains outside, there were rabbit droppings everywhere so I had to watch where I stepped as I walked around the watering hole.

Although this area was big, it was empty and there was nothing of interest so I picked one of the pathways leading further in at random and headed down it.

I walked silently through the deserted corridors, like a ghost haunting a derelict mansion’s halls. It was eerily quiet in here, having dispatched all living beings in the immediate area capable of making noise. Seeing first hand the consequences of my actions was kinda sobering. But then they did attack me first and almost killed me, so fuck them.

I stabbed horns in the earthen walls every so often, creating makeshift lamp posts and used the one I held to scratch directional arrows to find my way back in case I got turned around. Also scribbled a message on a whim, to anyone that might stumble upon it one day.

Fister of the blue orb cometh. Hide your wives.

P.s. Made the furry ones disappear.

I grinned thinking that someone from this world might discover this place in the far future and see a language they never encountered before. Then some eggheads would spend decades deciphering this nonsense haha.

Juvenile, I know, but it made me laugh and with the pressure of my mission weighing heavy on me, I needed that.

And yes, I had decided to use the name Fister from now on. New world, new identity, fresh start. Besides, I never like my original name back on Earth, especially since it had been given to me by people I didn’t want anything to do with.

I resumed my exploration. All of the side tunnels I entered lead me to small empty rooms that I assumed were sleeping quarters. There were piles of molted fur in each of them, no doubt used as bedding. They were very comfortable to sleep on. I should know. Spent the first days on Ascrak sleeping on the cold damp ground and using rocks as pillows. That is until I got those pelts. It’s like sleeping on a cloud. Tempur-pedic eat your heart out.

Aside from things shed or excreted from the Carbuncles bodies, I failed to find anything noteworthy anywhere. It was kinda disappointing. Didn't know what I was expecting to be honest. It’s not like every hole in the ground has a buried treasure inside but still…

As I kept going down the path I eventually stumbled into another large open area similar to the first except this one had a pillar of the mana tree’s root in the middle. It came from the ceiling and plunged further into the ground. The bunnies had dug around it, seemingly careful not to damage it as I saw no scratch marks or bites on the roots. There was another one of those resin crystal growing on it so I looted it. Better then nothing.

The room seemed like a dead end at first but I noticed a hole leading even further down on my way out. It was easier to spot leaving then coming due to the way it had been dug. I debated whether to call it quits and double back since I figured it was just more of the same but I didn't like leaving things half-finished. So down I went.

After a few minutes of walking down this new slanted corridor, I was able to put my horn away as something in the wall was giving off a similar bluish glow. A little bit at first but the brightness increased the further down I went. I originally thought that perhaps the light came from minerals mixed in the ground. I was wrong. Things got weird when I realized whatever was causing this was moving inside the walls, writhing just beneath the surface.

I cautiously investigated the cause, approaching the wall and digging some dirt out. I found a mass of wriggling bio-luminescent glow worms. They were thousands of them, each a few inches long, transparent with bright patterned lights on their bodies

Something fell on my head as I was in the middle of being creeped out by the weird bug wall, making me yelp in terror. I smacked it off then almost nope'd the hell out of here but cooler heads prevailed. One of the worms had fallen from the ceiling onto me. I picked it up, studied it closely, then out of curiosity, cast Orgasmo on it.

I didn’t actually expect insects to be available for sampling but surprisingly, it worked. I sampled the few drops it leaked and received notifications;

Learned DNA spell Glow: Makes you glow… 10 mp to activate. 10 mp to reduce or increase glow strength by increments of one.

Learned DNA skill Terravore (passive): Ability to eat and digest all soil types. 1 stamina point regenerated per minute while digesting. Other stats may also regenerate at same rate depending on soil type ingested. Soil samples that would impact your status both positively or negatively will still do so.

…Wow. My meal choices just keep getting better, don’t they? Screw grass and never mind a succulent rabbit roast that I can't actually cook right now. Give me a bowl of topsoil with a side of mulch instead. That’s the real gourmet shit. Sigh

I spent a few hour sampling the worms until Glow reached level 10, the max I could currently have due to my class rank. There were also loot spots here and there within the mass of insects that gave me "Incandescent mana worm larvae” which could be sold or used in alchemical recipes.

The loot and skills I found perked me up a bit. Maybe there was something here after all so I kept exploring. I reached a 3-way intersection. There was the path I had come from, one headed left and another heading right.

My ears perked up when I heard what seemed like squeaks and trickling water coming from the right, and peering deeper down the left tunnel with my enhanced sight, I saw an intense blue glow emanating from the room at the end. I don’t think it was coming from the worms. Maybe a giant resin crystal? A lootable motherload… A motherloot?

There were Carbuncle-like shapes laying on the floor in front of the room’s entrance but they were bathed in the strong light so I couldn't make them out properly. They weren’t moving tho. Yea… pretty ominous.

So, weird and potentially dangerous light or noise? Tough choice. I ended up following the sound. If there were Carbuncles left alive, I wouldn't want them walking in on me from side tunnels; And the exp would be nice of course.

The winding path I followed was the same as before; long, boring with a bunch of offshoot tunnels that led to nothing so I skipped all of it and marched on to meet my furry victims to be. I reached a third large room and what I saw left me uncomfortable and quite perplexed.