[Status - Level 2 - Species: Alate Ant (Camponotus)

Skills:

Digging level 2; Acid Spray Level 2; Bite level 4; Grip level 4; Grappling level 1

Mutations:

Antennae +1, Crop +3

Skill points: 1

Biomass: 4]

After spending several hours resting and consuming the food I saved, it was time to spend the points and then generate more encounters. So far, I have not had to travel far to find interactions.

The rising HP shows that eating is the default minor of healing. Perhaps there is minor healing over time that occurs regardless of food. Perhaps there are more game-like mechanics unsaid by this strange wireless broadcast to my processor. I will need to carefully explore these mechanics before I progress too far.

First, I must purchase more skills to improve upon. The [Bite] skill has performed satisfactorily, so moving on with [Scent Tracking] to assist with current objectives.

[Would you like to purchase the skill Scent Tracking? This will cost 1 skill point.]

Confirmed. The knowledge of the skill flows into my neural tissues and it makes me connect an idea. Perhaps I should focus on training what I have then and next chance to rest I will re-evaluate the list. Mutations are next, for those I decide to spend the 4 to get different parts to +1.

[Would like to upgrade your exoskeleton, legs, mandibles, and acid gland to +1? This will cost 4 biomass.]

Confirmed. Once more the power sparks and surges over all the parts changing until the crackling fades after a few minutes.

Satisfied with improvements, fully healed, and ready to consume more biomass, I dig out from the starting point. Returning to the tunnel and focusing on [Scent Tracking], I detect no chemical residue of the remains or their fluids left. Noted.

There are only two trails to have passed by here since I rested. Both coming from the left and continuing down to the right. All the monsters passing through here so far have headed in that direction.

Testing out [Grip], I walk up the wall and up onto the ceiling. In the small scale, the tunnel seems entirely random with no repeating patterns. However, it is possible that the tunnel is very old and battle over the years has altered the original shape long ago.

Traveling down the tunnel after the pair of scent trails, I felt the ceiling pull up and away further from the floor. With the ceiling this high, it will be too hard to track scents on the floor. I crawl back down to the floor and follow the trail.

The tunnel opens into a larger tunnel that seems to be about 1.6 times larger on average than before. It slants upward and isn’t perpendicular to the side tunnel I came out of. The two trails head upward and smell quite strongly here. A light tremor passes through the ground from some hard impact, followed by an echoing crack of the impact.

[Scent Tracking has reached level 2.]

Sticking close to the side of the tunnel, I move slowly and apply all my skills to the hilt. The notification might be in response to a successful tracking, which means one or both is ahead. If diminishing returns apply, limited usefulness.

As I move, I notice the air is being disturbed in varying patterns. Like something big or something fast is moving ahead. At first it was just shifting air, but then the patterns began to form waves of air being pushed, then pulled back.

After a minute of traveling carefully, I felt the clearest sign yet of something moving very fast towards me, pausing, then dashing back up the tunnel.

BOOM!

A ripple of air passes over the antennae, something small moving at a very high speed moving away from me. Ahead there is actually a muted blue haze that actually might be a light source. It seems like the tunnel is not just dark, but foggy as well. I make my way to the ceiling, hoping the two meter clearance is enough to give me some cover.

I move further up the tunnel, hearing the occasional impact, magnified by the tunnel. Once I breach the dark misty layer, the world immediately brightens a noticeable amount. I freeze in place and wait for the creature stirring the air to reappear.

Suddenly appearing over a dozen meters further up the tunnel, a tall, skinny figure made of entirely black flesh stood. Within it’s long, but thin, fingers was a stone. Further down a low growl was audible, but nothing was visible.

Shifting to the side, but staying within the mist’s edge, I saw the tunnel curving around a corner and continuing upward. At the corner sat a pair of what had to be younger versions of the fox I had first killed. Speculation, a third cub is hiding beyond line of sight.

Just as the target disappears, I edge up the wall meticulously with slow smooth movements. After twice reappearing with no sign of its prey, it screeched loudly and dashed further up the tunnel. Now it would dash back to the shadow mist then fully out and nearer the fresh biomass.

On its third cautious movement forward, a fox comes tearing from around the corner intent on retaliation for its fallen friends. The distraction allows me roughly be right over its favored spot, covered up to its waist in shadowy haze.

By then, the target had already retreated and readied their rock. With a soft whistle and a wet thunk, the fox yelped in response to the pain and spun 180 degrees around. The creature had a massive wound, but was still able to get up and come back at its enemy.

I focus entirely on my target’s location as it speeds off to find another rock to throw. With the passing of a single second, I let go of the ceiling. A moment later as gravity accelerates me downward, the black form rises from the shadows and takes its place only a few centimeters off its previous spot.

Focusing [Bite] and aiming for its neck area, my mandibles slammed down on the lower neck, crumpling the creature under my mass’s impact. We slammed into the ground, but the monster absorbed most of my fall. It made a loud piercing screech, which I silenced with another [Bite] slightly higher to remove its head.

[You have defeated a level 4 Mittent Ender.

You have gained experience.

You have achieved level 3. One skill point awarded.

Bite has reached level 5, upgrade available.]

Turning my attention to the fox in time to catch the fox dashing the last few meters towards us. It is taller, but I calculate that I win on the mass side, thus I rear up and open my legs wide to avoid presenting them as an easy target. Still, a leg was indeed the target.

Going for my left back leg that is still holding me up, it darts wide and goes low. I step my left leg back as I drop back down on all 6 legs, bringing my mandible to bear. It managed to get past me, leaving only a chunk of tough fur in my mandibles. My leg was wrenched out from under me and I was tugged backward as it pulled on my leg as hard as it could.

Being close to my gaster, I managed to give it an [Acid Spray] to the side of the face. It released my leg, rolling and thrashing away from me down the tunnel. I turned and pursued it, limping slightly when pushing with that back left leg.

The fox staggered to its feet, seemingly blind in the right eye as it frantically looked around until spotting me again. I steadily walked towards it, favoring the right side of the tunnel to give it some incentive to the left.

Just as I was close enough to rush it, the fox took the bait and ran off to my left side. Using the wide angle vision of the ant to bring my gaster to bear on the left side of the fox, I deliver a blast to the uninjured side of its face.

[Acid Spray has reached level 3.]

Once again the fox thrashes to the ground and rolls, this time into the far wall. That time it got a more direct shot and no longer looks fox-like. I pursued it without delay, reaching it as it struggled to stand up blind.

Crashing into it, slamming it into the wall, then using [Bite] to go for the throat.

[You have defeated a level 2 Rubrum Vulpe.

You have gained experience.]

With the notification verifying the kill, I immediately set into consuming the biomass before me. The Red Fox is apparently the initial version of the young swift fox, granting me a point for a new source and another for its mass.

The Mittent Ender is a curious creature.

[Mittent Ender: Sacrifices shadow flesh to whip anything it can hold in one hand with tremendous force. Has been known to pierce weaker armor.]

Long range combat options will become increasingly needed for efficient encounter rates. To offset this weakness, I must further exploit the biological weaknesses of these monsters to induce premature death status.

The Enderman gets me one biomass for a new profile and three more by the time I finish. The torn end of my leg has mostly healed and I move to the side of the tunnel to do a round of +2 mutations to use up the biomass.

[Would like to upgrade your exoskeleton, mandibles, and acid gland to +2? This will cost 6 biomass.]

Confirmed. The power surges through those parts and tingles with increased potency. Then there remains the issue of [Bite].

[Would you like to improve Bite to Crushing Bite? This will cost 1 skill point.]

Confirmed. Using the mandibles to more effectively bite appeared to be a matter of using the proper angles and finding the right spots to bite to deal the most damage with the least effort. I find improvement of efficiency to be a meaningful expenditure.

Once the changes settle, I immediately head off up the tunnel to generate another encounter. I stick close to the wall, but continue scanning the tunnel for scent trails. The scent of the foxes is still there, but everything else was too stale to tell.

The blue light comes from these odd veins growing along the walls or floor that pulses up in brightness. There must be something different about the shadow fog area I was spawned into. The air is less invigorating to breathe up here as well.

Having light makes visual scanning useful at least, but the vision is quite poor. Seeing in detail is quite difficult. After travelling for an hour, I found another side tunnel, smaller like the one I started in. This one however is light up as well with more of these glowing veins.

This intersection has many scents passing through here recently, making it harder to tell which direction each trail is actually going, but the general direction further up the larger tunnel. I decide to explore the side tunnel in the hopes of limiting the size of the possible monsters traveling the tunnel.

The scent trails do lead back out the tunnel, but there seems to be a set period between them. The spawn rates of these monsters must be in part indicated by the decay of the scent. Those foxes seem to have come from the large tunnel as their scent trails are now absent.

[Scent Tracking has reached level 3.]

The minor improvements to my abilities could be summed up as better patterns to detect different aspects of a scent trail. Following this small tunnel for another two hours before I find a tunnel wall and floor look lumpy. Almost as if a chunk was melting out of the wall as mud.

The most recent scent trail ended here, leading to the conclusion this is where the creature spawned. Disappointed at the lack of more monsters, I wander further down the tunnel.

It isn’t long before I begin to detect small vibrations and faint echoes of sounds. Small currents of air bring hints of various creatures, wounds, smoke, and the passage of electricity as powerful as lightning through the air.

Approaching slowly, I finally am able to see the tunnel opening up into a larger space, but appears to be a much larger tunnel. The sound of thundering steps and large impacts echoes more loudly.

Glancing into the larger tunnel, I see nothing to the left but a long slow curve up and more away from my starting point. To the right is the scene of a large silver monster fighting a large golden monster with a very bushy tail.

My first thought was perhaps it was a more advanced fox species than the ones I have seen so far. However, without better visuals, biomass is required for ID. I stay in the small tunnel and monitor the fight from afar.

The fox appearing creature does its best to race around the grey blob, which seems more intent on punching then chasing. It appears much like ape to my poor vision, but the sparks of lighting that highlight its form help.

The fox unleashes gouts of flame from its mouth, getting howls of rage from the large ape. The forces they are using are unlikely to be natural. High probability of magic ability and energy is the source. MP has a high probability of being Magic Points.

This increases the priority to access these forces and learn their rules of operations. With sufficient experimentation, I should be able to create devastating effects.

Leaping onto the wall, then springing back at the fox, its fist flies with bolts of lighting to impact the opposing wall. The fox had already spun away and was turning now to unleash a fireball blast into the side of its foe.

The threat levels were far too high to remain here. Even if they struggle to pursue me in the small tunnel, their possession of magic abilities could kill me quite far down.

I retreat back down the tunnel instead, opting to find more manageable targets. Those large creatures were beyond the combat capabilities demonstrated so far by small creatures. I will need to be able to deal with those forces.

Even as I continued to retrace my path, the echoes of massive impacts and roars of pain still reached me in fading strength. About a third of the way back, I come across an orange and black monster approaching from the opposite direction.

Having clearly far better eyes than me, it appeared to be approaching in slow, measured amounts. Hugging the wall, it kept low and was hard to see when it held still. With only 30 meters to go, it stopped all movement in a slightly darker part of the tunnel and just waited.

This is far more manageable.