"First time the system gave a a warning like that, guess those two are totally out of my league." Since Danny had no intention had of attacking the humans anyway, it didn't actually matter. He listened to them discussing the cave and it's new status as a Dungeon since any info about the world could prove useful.

He really wanted to see them build a barricade but also didn't want them to get the idea he was aggressive so when the boy shoo'ed him he got back and slowly and calmly backed away, looking at the kid the entire time. Not wanting to waste this change to see if humans could understand he responded to what the kid was saying. Relax human, I don't want to fight you. Why do you think I distracted those Goblins earlier." Honestly it didn't matter if they believed him or not what mattered was if they understood him and how they would respond to a talking monster.

---

Things were getting out of hand. All she wanted was for this stupid plant to die.

Seriously, who ever heard of plants that fought back? Stupid forest.

But she wasn't thinking straight anymore, she had started to panic as her feet left the ground and the crushing tightness started to get tighter. It was the beetle all over again, wasn't it?

No. She didn't have friends this time.

"In the name of the Shadow, I defy you!" she grunted out angrily as a thought shot across her mind faster than she could properly comprehend it.

She had directed her fireball into a fire breath by focusing it through her mouth. That meant that it was partially through her will or her intent, something about how she wanted to use it and the skill to use it.

Right now she just wanted fire. In her mind it was like when she had nearly died. Fire all around her, fire all within her. Burning.

She willed it to life, desperately trying to make the fire come from all around her body instead of a single point.

She wanted to explode on her own terms this time.

Ardur The Mighty Hipixie

Adventure! > rest sounds like a good idea /// Adventuring day 4 // Afternoon / Location - base of the mountain > walking through the mountains

“Wait you can talk to the system? I tried a few days ago but nothing came of it.” Ardur asked sounding surprised and puzzled. Looking around at their current options for pathways, he knew he wanted to stay in the forest and the deep forest to the north looked like a good bet. He wasn’t too interested in the grass lands and didn’t truly wish to keep climbing the mountain.

“Well I’m not sure about you but I vote we head toward that forest down there. More than likely a bit better availability for resources. I don’t feel too comfortable with climbing the mountain especially in our condition.”

He was alerted to the presence of the dire rats from Steve before he heard their squeaks. Looking up to the rocks above them, he could see a few rats among the rocks. They seemed content to simply watch the four of them from their holes rather than pursue them for food. “Or we could camp out somewhere around here for the night and try to take on those rats up there for food tomorrow? Either way I don’t really care but hopefully this mana burn will wear off after some rest.”

@Zeroth
@Kazemitsu

---

Ed had to squint a little to see what was he could guess tools and some pots inside of the smaller structure. Though this interested Ed enough to warrant him to keep a mental note that he ought to check it out later. Perhaps in the early hours of the morning? When most of the townsfolk would be asleep and completely unaware of his presence in the town. He would then turn to face Asteria and tell her of his plan of investigating the town in the cover of darkness. But upon looking down, it was apparent that Asteria and Mother Rat was already making a den for them to rest in for the night. Feeling bad that he was not helping earlier, Ed sets down both the ant corpse and his gnarled stick, and moves towards where they were digging and pauses before he could help digging the hole.

His hands still had numerous cuts from his berserking fiasco earlier. If he were to help digging the hole, he would need to make sure his injuries would be able to stay clean or risk getting an infection. 'Maybe I can make a protective glove with my magic? Hell, a simple protective layer would do the job well enough.' Ed thought to himself as he looked at the many cuts on his hands. He lets out a quick breath. 'I won't know if I don't even try.' Ed then knitted his eyebrows in concentration and looked intensely at his hands. Imagining the incorporeal and invisible force of magic contained within his body to be focused on his hands. Once Ed felt that there was enough of the magic focused on his hands, he then imagined that the magic was forming to the general shape of his hands. Once satisfied with what he was imagining, he finally put what he felt to be the key component to activate the magic from its currently inert and useless form.

Desire.

His body, and by extension the system, reacted numerous times to his desire. May it be as simple as activating a skill or to something as complex as jump-starting his evolution as well as selecting what evolutionary branch was most fitting. Desire had been a consistent trigger and that gave Ed a hunch that if he wanted it hard enough, the magic would not be any different. If his attempt would be successful, he would go help the Dire Rat duo and help make the hole bigger.

---

---

“Sure, we can even dig in the direction of the settlement…but not too close to it. We’ll have to hide the entrance as well…” she trailed off as she focused completely on digging faster. Even with the three of them co-operating, it would take a good chunk of time to make something suitable for all three of them. What Asteria wanted to work on in the mean-time was interacting with the system as Ed had done. From what she’d seen, he’d merely commanded it to deactivate his berserk skill and it did exactly that. In that venue, if she wanted to know what her current skills were or possibly even find out her own rate of progression, she simply had to will it. Taking half a minute off from digging, she cleared her throat with a dry “Hkh-hm!”, then said in her most assertive, domineering tone of a voice, the kind she’d used once upon a time when facing down opposition in court with what she knew was a winning argument, “System: Show current skills!”

Whether that worked or not, she’d return to work on digging out the hole and aiming to expand it a tunnel or at least what would be the beginning of one. She soon noticed one problem – the earth they were digging out was making quite the pile, not exactly the most of unobtrusive of things. So, setting her plants (which were slightly worse for wear, but would do well enough to experiment with when she had the time) next to the ant’s carapace, Asteria left the digging to Mother Rat and Ed while she used her paws to flatten the mini hills they were creating. She did her best to spread the earth and rocks naturally between the vegetation. It was harder creating patches for already growing plants, but she’d rather do that than have a human noticing their building attempts. As Ed had suggested, investigating them was perfectly fine as long as the villagers weren’t aware of them, while drawing attention to themselves would be unadvised. Whenever she finished spreading the freshly dug out earth, Asteria would go back to tunneling.

---

@Zeroth

"We have no way of killing it right now..." Jason huffed in response to Teef, "It's far safer for us to wait out our mana disorder by draining numerous sources before trying to go for any real fights, and I'm not very confident how many half-baked mana orbs I can fire before we run out of mana. Even IF we killed it, we might get less mana than we spent in the fight."

After listening to Bonie, Jason summoned his skill menu, hoping to see improvement in, well... Anything. Taking a brief moment to examine the scene of the battle while he read over his skills, the old warlord noticed that the pool had somehow overflown quite a ways. It was unlikely that such a thing had happened naturally... As far as Jason knew, no reincarnate other than Danny had any form of water magic, let alone of this scale.... It couldn't have been the core either, which left only one suspect; Undine, the animated sword.

It seemed that Jason's intuition of Undine being the shadow in the pool was correct, furthermore it seemed as if it had gotten involved in the fight. Such an object would more than likely have a soul, which meant it could be eaten by the core, or worse..... ASSIMILATED. If the core managed to pull Undine into its ranks, the results would be catastrophic....

Once again, Jason was left with a hard choice-- run, and guarantee his survival? Or enter the pool, and learn of Undine's fate?

With a sigh, he made his choice. Moving low to the ground, slowly and cautiously, Jason approached the pool, keeping a wide berth from the only patrol on his side; a duo of zombie pixies. Assuming their vision worked like his, the ecto slime made sure to stay toward the backs of the two zombies. Stretching himself thin, Jason looked like no more than a wisp of fog rolling across the ground. As he reached the center of the dark water, Jason peered into its depths, before plunging into the darkness below....

If worst came to worst, Jason knew he might need to finish the animated sword, to prevent it from becoming a tool of the dungeon.

Asura 'glanced' back at Ardur. "You have to be persistent and word things right. Despite my age and profession, I played a lot of video games." He explained as they walked along. Well Asura was trying his best to sneak despite being a puddle. A kind of hungry puddle. Unlike the cave there wasn't too much algae and fungus around, but he started to suck up what he could. Sand, plant matter, insects that were in his path. They'd all be snacks to recharge his Stamina.

"Do you know how to regenerate Mana? I hate using magic, but I have a skill that combines Mana with Food to make my Stamina Regeneration go faster." He questioned, and then explained. Then growled as the System gave him jack shit. [color=red]Request Permissions to view Permissions List.[/i][/color] He thought to the system. "It's being obstinate now..." He muttered, a little agitated at how things weren't working.

Asura took note of the Dire Rats further up the slope and how they were acting. They were more like groundhogs or meerkats. Maybe it was a rodent thing? Either way he kept his senses open. He knew they tunneled and he had no wish to be ambushed from the ground. "Lets go further down the slope closer to the woods. That way we can run in whatever direction we need to." He stated, veering down the slope closer to the woods. He'd be picking up more plant-matter as he went as it grew more plentiful. He picked and chose though so he didn't make too obvious of a trail.

---

@Zeroth

Now that Jason was a spirit, moving through the water was little different than moving through the air. His slime body hadn't been able to submerge, merely paddling along like a beach ball, but now he felt no resistance as he floated down into the depths. He did feel the temperature change, first a comfortable cooling, then an outright chill. And he began to feel a slight pressure on all sides--his misty form seemed to naturally take on the shape of a bubble, pushed equally from every direction. None of it impeded his movement, and he didn't feel the upward pull of a living body with air in its lungs.

The light from up above faded out after only five feet or so, but the pool was much deeper than that. Ten, fifteen, almost twenty...Soon he was in an absolute, but not quite total, darkness. It reminded him of the spirit world, the monochrome filter cast over everything. The experience was made even more eerie by all the tiny, almost mote-like gray souls he could see within the tiny fish living here. But rather than black and white, this underwater world was a deeper, richer, darker blue. The few things he could see that caught a stray, refracted beam of light every so often shone a bright aqua hue, where everything else blended into a midnight sky...

There were a few things down here, that had likely been down here for some time. A handful of scattered, glittering circles...Were they coins? Gold coins!? In another spot, buried halfway in the silt and gravel floor of the pool, a large femur bone--possibly human sized. Something, perhaps a stone blade, had once been tied to its head but now all that remained were strips of something floating like seaweed. And there were more bones scattered about as well, at least a complete skeleton's worth--a skeleblin, more accurately, as it was clear most of these bones were from a Goblin or two. They looked even older than Bonie(formerly Y'tahl)'s yellowed bones had been. Likely these creatures had either drowned, or simply been tossed into the water after their death.

There was even an old wooden chest, long rotted. The metal buckle at its front and the keyhole had long rusted away, and a large hole in its side released bubbles every so often when vibrations from up above shook the water.

And there, within a shadow of the deeps, outlined by a turquoise light all its own, glittered an ornate long sword. The first few inches of its blade sat in the sand, but none of the grit nor all this time below water seemed to have dulled or tarnished it in any fashion.

It did not react to Jason's presence. But his "soul sight" could see within it, something far more potent than the influence of the Dungeon Core...Except. All of the "souls" Jason had seen thus far took the shape of spheres. They were orbs, held within the physical body, somewhere close to the being's center almost like a spiritual heart. The "soul" he could see within the sword, however, did not take that shape. Its light suffused the entire blade's structure, a construct mimicking every physical aspect of the blade with three dimensional, yet non-physical, shape. In fact, it almost seemed as if the blade itself--the steel edge, the leather grip, the engraved hand-guard--were only a shell, fragile and delicate, infused by this soul like blood infusing the veins. The sword's spirit was deeper, denser, sadder, older, than anything Jason had thus seen.

"Ja-Soon, might not want to mess wid dis one--"
"Big BIG shiny! Use da Magick Sucky on it, quick quick!"

"You. The one who awakened the Core." Jason felt Bonie and Teef go silent within him like a child backing away from a parent entering the room with belt in hand. When the sword spoke again, it was quiet at first--before raising its "voice" at Jason. "No wonder it has been progressing so quickly. Spirit! Are you still aware? State your name! Spirit?"

If Jason still had a mouth, it'd have gone dry the moment his eyes fell upon the sword before him. It's ornate beauty; suspended in an inky void and untouched by time, was nothing short of magnificent. At this moment, he was but a gnat at the feet of a giant.... One that seemed quite angry with him.

With a deep breath, Jason answered the being before him. "My name.... Is Ja-Soon... Most call me Jason." he responded, pausing briefly as he cautiously drifted closer. "What I did, was arrogant, stupid, and rash... I saw what could be a strategic advantage, and took hold of it, not thinking of what consequences there might be. Even after I learned of it's true nature, I was blind. I thought I could control it, change it-- and give new purpose to lost souls. How wrong I was."

For a moment, Jason's eyes fell to floor of the pool, ashamed of his mistakes, yet he summoned his resolve, and locked his gaze once more on the ancient presence before him. "So, you must be Undine."

"I was an Undine, yes." the sword corrected. Jason felt the water pressure shift, as if the spirit sword narrowed its eyes at him. "And you...are many things. An Ectoslime, exceedingly rare in this environment." The water shifted, carrying Jason's immaterial form on an unseen current to slowly turn him around a full circle. "Formerly a Slime Mage, also quite rare. And before that...a Human. Not of this world." The current disappeared, as did the pressure. "And most of all, a fool. A Dungeon Core can be controlled, but not by one of your pitiable level of power. Your folly was arrogance, overestimating your abilities as a small fish in a mere pond. Then again..." The sword's tone softened, and the chill of the water became less biting. "I suppose you can not be blamed for your own ignorance. This world is nothing like your own, I am sure. You lack knowledge."

Several of the small fish seemed intrigued by the movement of the waters around Jason, though they didn't seem aware of him. They swam around him--one even passed through him--until they realized there wasn't any food stirring up the waters. The rotting wooden chest let out another handful of bubbles, and its lid shifted lightly.

"I assume you know of my presence because of the Dungeon Core's ability to recognize creatures within its range. But surely you also realize there is no way for you to wield me as you are now--and even if there were, I doubt I would find you a suitable hand. If that is your reason for coming here, leave me be. If you wish to undo your mistakes and destroy the Dungeon Core, worry not--I will do that myself, when I have recovered enough of my Mana. If your business is otherwise, Jason, state it. Otherwise, I believe it would be best for you to leave the cave quickly."

Jason carefully felt the flow of Undine's magic as the water around him surged. As the churning ebbed, the former warlord continued to inch closer, until he was an inch away from the living weapon. "I came not to wield you, but to know for certain you would not fall to the dungeon... he responded assertively as a single pseudopod reached out to touch Undine. "I think you're bluffing. Despite having a direct channel leading to the core, you haven't destroyed it yet. Yes, I'm well aware you're exponentially more powerful than this entire dungeon put together... But I have my doubts about how your mana levels are at the current moment. I assume you gain most of your Mana from water entering the pool correct? The. Core. Is. Sealing. All. The. Holes. By this time tomorrow, the 22,000 gallons of water you have now is going to be all you're going to have to combat the rest of the dungeon with. There won't be any new water. That number will continue to dwindle. With every moment the undead are regaining their abilities from past lives."

The tip of Jason's wispy tendril stopped but a hair's breadth from Undine as his tone became gravely serious, "The dungeon has you listed as a boss Undine, albeit a hidden one. I need to be certain that its influence will not overtake you, despite how powerful you are. I am simply checking, nothing more-- you have my word..."

Cautiously, he reached to touch Undine's soul, not with intent to devour, but to look within.

Jason felt the sensation of placing one's finger on the edge of a razor blade when he tried to "touch" Undine--and moments later there was a crash like a wave as an unseen force repelled him. The water churned angrily in the immediate area around the sword.

"I am not for you to know! Remove yourself from me before I destroy you!" When Jason had backed off enough the spirit within the blade seemed to calm down, but its guard was still visibly raised. "Again you overestimate yourself. Even if I were to be assimilated, what would--or could--you do about it, in your present state? My power, limited as it is, is still much greater than yours. Being under the Dungeon's control would actually make me even stronger, in a sense, and you would not be able to wrench my spirit out the way you have those Goblins. You fail to recognize your own limits, Jason."

"In any case, your fears are unfounded. Since you seem to like talking a great deal I shall do the same, and answer your concerns in order." The temperature of the water lowered somewhat more. "I haven't destroyed the Core yet because I have been planning. You will understand more of these plans momentarily. I do not draw Mana solely from the water's ambient magic, though it is my attuned element. I have different Skills that allow me to recover my magic power, one of which is to take it from things that my blade cuts. The reason I must conserve my energy is because of the condition of my being." The undine's blade glimmered as it caught a shaft of light from above. "I have far more Mana than you, or any other creature in this cave. However, a large portion of it is "locked" in the magic that bound me to this sword, and in the bond between myself and a wielder. So I only have so much to use at a given moment. Another former Human, Asteria, gave me her Mana and helped to an extent, but even without external sources I will be able to recover my power after using it."

"If the Core uses its minions to seal up the cave, this pool might dwindle--but in a sealed environment, evaporation will not dilute it so much, as even the vapors will have nowhere else to go. The reason I use the water as my home is that, due to my nature, it is easier for me to move within the water and use it in conjunction with my abilities. So far, no creatures of this cave are aquatic in nature, so there are no threats to me here. This is part of my plan. When the other former Humans began digging around the edge of the pool, I was able to widen the channel and give myself a direct path towards the Core. No doubt the Core will eventually realize that although the channel was there before your control over it was broken, that it is not a natural part of the cavern--but even if they were to fill it in, I would be able to get to the core. Using the stream would simply be more convenient."

"And to at last address your concern, the Dungeon Core is not powerful enough yet--nor will it be for some time--to attempt assimilating me. Even if it could, it would find me of limited use without a wielder--and none of its minions are anywhere close to meeting the requirements to use my power. A "Hidden Boss" is usually exactly as I just said--a creature within a dungeon too powerful for its core to control. A Dungeon Core's purpose in analyzing this creature, and providing information about it to the Dungeon Boss, is to maintain a truce of sorts with it. It might provide minions or guardians for the Hidden Boss's lair, designate certain resources to be left alone for the Hidden Boss's use, or various other things. The Dungeon Core cannot control such a creature, so it tries to keep it appeased in the hopes that, should all else fail, the Hidden Boss can at least be provoked to defend its own territory from intruders--and by extent, the Dungeon's own territory will be protected."

"Since the time that you were Dungeon Boss, however, I have taken action against the Dungeon Core directly. It likely no longer recognizes me as a Hidden Boss and instead places me at the highest priority of intruder, because it knows there is no way for its minions to overcome me in direct combat."

"Right now, the game is still somewhat dangerous--if the channel has not been sealed off by the next time my Mana is fully restored, then I will be able to swim through it and destroy the Core in my next attack. If it has been sealed, I may be set back a few days as I will have to recover my power, make an assault, and then temporarily retreat once I have used my stores, to repeat the process later. The Dungeon has far fewer resources with which to continue spawning Undead, however, and with every battle that will dwindle. It will be a battle of attrition as you feared, but one in which I will still have distinct advantage. The biggest concern will be interference from outside--and also, the actions of those like you, Human souls reborn into Monster bodies. I do not understand the nature of this Curse you all bear, and have little trust thus far towards any of you."

Finally the water had calmed completely. One of the little fish swimming around Jason had now gone to investigate the bubbles coming from the wooden chest--only for something else to suddenly dart out and snatch it up. Jason couldn't refocus his senses fast enough to see what the creature had been. Only a dark shadow that had returned within the chest as quickly as it had come out. Whatever it was, however, the sword seemed to pay it no more attention than the fish. Jason's soul sight caught a fuzzy glimpse of another gray sphere, but this one was much larger than the fish--almost as large as the Dire Rat's.

"Now, Jason. I must admit that I am none too inclined towards you. I am tempted to do what I think would be best in the long run, and sever your connection to this world. With your Mana my own would be that much more recovered, and I would have a better chance to destroy the Core." The water temperature dropped much more sharply and Jason felt pressure building around him again. "But I tell you this now, and only once more. You should leave this cave, and the Core. Only return here if you bring with you a Hero. Temper your arrogance and rein in your fantasies of power--this last I say to you, because I do not trust you. You have a darkness within you that was not put there by the Dungeon Core. If it has not been mastered, and we meet again...I do not know if I shall be able or willing to stay my blade from your throat. Go."

Perhaps Undine was right, maybe he had overstepped... But until he knew better, Jason wanted to be absolutely sure that the sword wouldn't succumb to the dungeon. "I see... Best of luck then." he responded calmly as he began his ascent, slowly climbing to the top of the pool. Jason crept from the pool just as carefully he had crept in, moving away toward the exit. Once he was sure there was no nearby patrols, he abandoned stealth altogether, racing for the exit of the cave....

As Oberon used his two Passive Mana Regeneration skills to restore his energy reserves, not only did his MP rise much faster but he also began to feel more "refreshed" in some way--much like an athlete that has recovered from pushing their body past the limit. He had been using these two skills quite frequently lately, and though he had pushed his experimentation fairly far he was careful not to keep overusing his spells. Rather than wait until his MP was used up, he kept it at a decent level, "topping off" every so often rather than waiting until he needed a complete refuel.

Your Mana Burn has subsided.
Natural Mana Recovery restored to 100%. External Mana Recovery restored to 100%.

When he let the water of the shallow stream run over his hand and began channeling his Mana, without much effort on his part only a soft glow appeared in his palm. Like a flashlight with a weak battery, this unformed spell took a circular shape--but then, the water began to sweep it away. It was almost like holding sand between his fingers. The water simply swept it right along...But when the Sprite put conscious effort into holding his mana there, and trying to draw the water into it rather than letting it pass by, a proper Mana Orb began to form--except now, it didn't look so much like a crackling ball of light. It became transparent, much like the water, and its light was highly diffused. It looked more like foaming bubbles than anything else. But after a few moments, if Oberon didn't put any further effort into either maintaining the Orb or trying to drain power from the water, it too would simply be carried away by the current until the small amount of mana he had gathered in his hand was all gone.

---

Ash struggled valiantly against the monster's gullet, and though she drew blood with her claws many of her swipes slid off the creature's rubbery, saliva-coated innards. The frog's toothless mouth pressed down harder around her...until she released a Poison Glob right down the amphibian's throat.

The fumes from the acidic reaction even burned Ash's own nostrils in this confined space, but the writhing body around her immediately began to spasm. Bright light erupted around her before she tumbled back onto the forest floor, covered in frog mucus. Her attacker continued to vomit, even expelling a long, pulsating sack. Like a frog back in her own world that had eaten a bee or some other harmful creature, it had thrown up its own stomach in an attempt to dislodge the offender! But her glob had coated its insides already--as she watched, the creature seized and screamed in agony as the stomach sac was burned through, and the Rubber Frog's entire body seemed to shrivel up even after it had completely deflated.

Eventually this show of body horror ceased, and the frog collapsed lifelessly. Its tonge, as well as its stomach, were still hanging out of its mouth. Where the poison had burned through the lining, a mass of undigested food--something that looked like pixie wings here, a little rat fur there, the leg of some large insect--could be seen. All in all, quite a gristly scene, even for a scientist who planned on disecting her prey.

LEVEL UP! Your combined experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 8! You gain Skill Points to distribute as you please! Max Stamina has increased!

Unspent Skill Points: 12 ((OOC: 2 leftover from last time, 5 normal, 2 at 1000 post mark and 3 at one-year mark))

Current Skills:
Stun Stinger II (2.025)
Poison Spray II (2.0)
Alchemy II (2.525)
Overwork III (3.2625)
Charisma I (1.65)
Venom Shot I (1.8)
Crafting I (1.25)
Lesser Force I (1.5)
Magic Analysis II (2.5875)
Alert I (1.3)
Lesser Flight I (1.25)
Muffle I (1.55)
Monster Analysis II (2.0375)
Material Analysis I (1.6)
Meditate II (2.025)
Poison Glob I (1.15)
Poison Breath I (1.025)
Plant Analysis I (1.05)
Tremor Sense I (1.0)
Mana Orb I (1.55)
Shield I (1.0)
Mana Slice I (1.55)
Mana Shape I (1.1)
Analysis (--)
Rabid Fit I (1.05)
Mental Resistance I (1.5)
<UNUSABLE>
Blunt Resistance (0.2)
Scribe (0.6)
Minor Heal (0.725)
Faster (0.1)
Intimidate (0.6)
Acid Volley (0.1)
Venom Claw (0.1)
Dragon Affinity (0.45) <CANNOT BE INCREASED WITH SKILL POINTS>
Prehensile Tail (0.5)
Stronger (0.4)
Mana Sense (0.6)
Mana Vision (0.8)
Dual Cast (0.2)
Slash (0.2)

---

The Flak Beetle's mandibles snapped like a pair of vicious scissors as it scuttled at high speed towards the Demiblin. Hesitating for only a moment, Digbie summoned up an Earth Wall between him and his attacker, then cast Rock Spire on the wall itself rather than his opponent. The yellow circle of light marking the spike's target appeared on the flat surface of rock as it erupted from the ground with a rumbling crack.

The beetle's charge pulled up short as its segmented legs did a frantic backpedal--but not quick enough! There was a crunching sound from the other side of the wall...but Digbie didn't hang around to see what happened. The demonic goblin fled at full speed from his attacker, yelling his head off. But he was heading towards the east, not back north where the rest of his allies were. Though he might be following the trail of the Blessed Yill's petals, he was heading into unknown territory...deeper into the forest...

Behind him, there was a snapping sound. The Flak Beetle tottered around the edge of the Earth Wall--with the tip of the Rock Spire planted firmly in its mouth bits like a toddler's pacifier. Its mandibles were angrily clicking around the rocky plug as two of its forelegs explored the stone's size and shape. Once it understood what had been shoved into its mouth, it gave an angry hiss. Like a pneumatic press the two mandibles began to slowly close...and after several difficult, grinding repetitions, there was another snap as it broke the piece of stone into pieces. It spat them out, then made grumbling clicks as it wandered off in another direction.

When the Monster Party originally left the cave, they had traveled to the north. The forest had grown deeper, the trees larger, and while the undergrowth wasn't so thick anymore the ground had become rockier and steeper. The canopy became denser, so though the sun was well up shadows still covered large swathes of the forest floor. Layers of leaves or straw had fallen thick over the years, disturbed only by the occasional beast. The Monster Party had made its shelter somewhat to the edge of the forest, closer to the mountains. So on his journey a short ways south, and now running helter skelter to the east, Digbie was heading right into the heart of the woodlands.

He had long left the trail he carved with his curved rock behind, and he wasn't anywhere near the stream either. Now, in all directions, there were just trees, trees, a rock or two, and more trees...

And as he ran between some of these trees, bursting out of a low slope over a pile of leaves, there was a sudden squeak. A Dire Rat, likely nesting in that leaf pile, burst up right in front of Digbie. The two were equally shocked by the other's presence, but as the rat scampered backwards it raised up onto its hind legs. With its fur bristling, fangs bared, and eyes blazing, it began to hiss and snort at Digbie--but it didn't attack. Its entire body said "stay away!" but so far it didn't seem eager to actually fight. Digbie had fought and won against Dire Rats before...would he do the same here?

---

Fire, fire everywhere, and not a spark to die. That was what Torrent wished for, as with a defiant shout--or an angry prayer--she let loose her magic. She felt her skin growing hot, felt scales drying, felt oxygen grow scarce, felt her Mana surging. The Fireball manifested, and expanded, all around her...

Or more accurately, she was inside a Fireball that had been cast "in place." But her intent, her desire, to see this pant cringe and burn and wither away, kept her going. The flames spread out just as the tendrils wrapped around her. Before they could squeeze her to death and crush the life from her rapidly beating heart, they were enveloped in fire and fury.

An odd creening, somewhere between a wooden creak and a squeal, came from the Blood Snare plant as the flames all over it continued to eat away its fibrous body. Torrent was dropped the short distance to the ground, singed by her own power but seemingly unharmed--her Fire Resistance definitely had something to do with it, she could feel. Parts of the plant blackened and shriveled and crumbled to ash, other parts writhed and smoked and then finally fell still. Several large petals fell off of the main body, smoking and smouldering like charcoal grilled meat and glistening with bubbling sap. Only a few strands of vine were left unharmed, but with their roots and body burned they could no longer pose any threat.

You have no MP remaining.

Loot Present: Grilled Flesh Leaf x3
Loot Present: Blood Snare Vine x2

LEVEL UP! Your combined experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 8! You gain Skill Points to distribute as you please! Max MP has increased (this will not recover your current MP)!

Unspent Skill Points: 10

Current Skills:
Stun Fang II (2.3)
Muffle III (3.0125)
Poison Spit II (2.0)
Poison Glob I (1.75)
Poison Breath II (2.075)
Fireball II (2.0)
Stealth Kill I (1.0)
Minor Recovery I (1.0)
Fire Resistance I (1.1)
Fire Breath I (1.85)
Rabid Fit I (1.0)
Meditate I (1.25)
Tremor Sense I (1.7)
Soil Manipulation I (1.1)
Underground Movement I (1.55)
Monster Analysis I (1.025)
Magic Analysis I (1.225)
Material Analysis I (1.025)
Plant Analysis I (1.025)
Scale Shift I (1.5)
Overwork I (1.0)
Analysis (--)
Mental Resistance I (1.2)
Spell Cancel I (1.05)
Sensory Resistance I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE>
Crafting (0.2)
Alchemy (0.4)
Alert (0.4)
Warcry (0.3)
Poison Fang (0.3)
Blunt Resistance (0.6)
Smash (0.2)
Magic Break (0.1)
Suppress Presence (0.3)
Spiritual Awareness (0.4)
Prehensile Tail (0.1)
Fortify (0.5)
Spell Chant (0.4)
Dual Cast (0.5)
Guidance (0.5)
Focus (0.2)
Flame Burst (0.1)

---

ERROR. You do not have Permissions to Request Permissions.

The group decided to ignore the rat nest for now, and instead headed back towards the cover of the trees. As they went back down the slopes, they could see the forest from a higher perspective. Not quite over the treetops, but enough to see the structure of the cave from outside--how what seemed to be a collapsed part of the mountain had been covered over with silt over years of erosion and turned into a gently sloped hill, almost a mound. And they could see that the forest grew thicker to the north. And that the goblins' campfire in the clearing was gone.

They could also see, somewhat to the south of where they had originally started up the mountain, a burrow in the ground. It was just a hole, no telling how deep it went, but it was rather broad--at least a foot across at its widest, and deep enough that they could only see darkness down there.

As they were coming down from the rocks, something black and shiny--the carapace of a large insect--emerged from the burrow...whatever it was, it was coming out backwards, either dragging something out of the den or digging out its home further...

"Ahdoo." Momma Slime blurbled, remembering something for the first time. "Um...Fownd dis. Not taked. Fownd it." With a wet splurt she spat the corpse of one of the Fanged Lizards--the one Ardur had called dibs on and Asura made her not eat--out at the Hipixie's feet. It was only slightly dissolved around the edges.

---

Current Skills:
Beast Sense II (2.875)
Faster II (2.15)
Monster Analysis II (2.3)
Dextrous I (1.9)
Poison Resistance I (1.0)
Crafting I (1.625)
Muffle I (1.6)
Mana Sense I (1.8)
Mana Drain I (1.4)
Magic Analysis I (1.05)
Stronger I (1.15)
Prehensile Tail (--)
Alert I (1.15)
<UNUSABLE>
Use Light Equipment (0.6)
Charisma (0.9)
Telepathy (0.35)
Mental Resistance (0.1)
Soil Manipulation (0.8)
Overwork (0.2)
Lesser Status Heal (0.05)
Minor Heal (0.05)
Meditate (0.4)
Smash (0.6)
Mana Flex (0.1)
Scribe (0.1)
Spell Chant (0.15)
Lesser Force (0.1)
Stone Shot (0.1)
Lucid Dream (0.3)
Spiritual Awareness (0.2)
Swift Swimmer (0.1)
Suppress Presence (0.1)
Plant Analysis (0.7)
Alchemy (0.05)
Tremor Sense (0.1)

Ed couldn't quite see any magical glows just yet, but like a few experiments he had tried before, he could feel "energy" moving within him. It was almost like feeling your blood rush through your veins after a hard workout, the kind that makes your heart thud in your chest. But it was hard to remain totally conscious of it, and harder still to make it "circulate" the way he wanted. Nonetheless, he felt his hands grow warm. The minor cuts and bruises he had accumulated stopped stinging and hurting. His tense muscles grew a little more relaxed. But he couldn't keep up this state of "flow" for long, especially not while helping Mother Rat dig. After examining the system, however, Asteria returned to help her two packmates.

With Ed's greater strength and three pairs of paws, they soon had a sizeable burrow tunneled out. It still wouldn't be big enough for Ed to fit into, however--at least not without leaving about half of himself outside, and if he wanted to breathe properly it would have to be the half that had a nose on it.

But as they kept digging, even with the Alert skill they might be too distracted to notice a fluttering shadow overhead...it seemed to be circling around the bunch of flowers that Asteria had picked. At first glance, it was simply a butterfly or moth of some sort, likely a simple insect attracted by the smell of the plants...

But...a normal sized bug probably wouldn't cast a shadow at all unless it was much closer to the ground, right? And...why was this shadow, even for a bug, so big...?

---

When Danny didn't make any threatening moves, the younger human slowly turned to the trees. With only an occasional glance now at the Poltergeist, he picked out a smaller tree and started to raise his hatchet--

"Relax human, I don't want to fight you. Why do you think I distracted those Goblins earlier."

"AAAAAH!?"

The human immediately leaped backward, dropping his axe entirely and planting himself in a strong stance, shield up. He seemed to be trying to draw his sword, but in the excitement he was fumbling somewhat with the belt and scabbard.

"Squire! Focus!" the knight's own hand was on his sword, but he had not unslung the shield from his back. His stance was a cautious one--but there seemed to be a pressure building under his hand, as if the moment he drew the sword would be the same moment he attacked.

"Th-the Poltergeist can t-talk, sir!"

"I heard it too--keep your distance! Think every action through!"

The boy took a deep breath. His sword rasped on leather as he finally drew it out. He looked over the rim of his shield at Danny.

"Poltergeist! A Monster at your level shouldn't be intelligent enough to speak, much less a human tongue! Some transformed creature, or a familiar...What are you?"

The knight had relaxed somewhat, and the pressure under his hand lessened...but it was still there. He turned slowly in a circle, and beneath the visor of his helmet his eyes seemed to be taking in every detail of the surroundings...

---

By the time Jason had finished his conversation with Jason, and made his way to the exit of the cave, he would find that Asura, Ardur, Momma Slime, Asteria, Ed, Mother Rat, and Danny had all disappeared, as well as those traitors that had followed Mourningstar. And the goblins, they were all gone too! Had everyone simply thrown everything aside and run, now that the Dungeon was apparently on auto-pilot?

As he emerged into the light of early evening, the sun just beginning to redden as it sank toward the mountaintops to the west, he saw only...

A knight, looking towards him with a hand on his blade. From that sword leaked an aura that felt almost as sharp as Undine's--or rather, it was coming from the knight, and being channeled through the sword. And as the knight's head turned, it stopped for just a moment.

Jason couldn't see the knight's eyes under the visor. Was he...could he actually see the spirit?

And behind the knight...was that Danny? It looked like the Wisp had gotten bigger--and grown a body under that spherical form that was now a head. Facing another human, a young one, with drawn blade...!

---

As the Goblins pressed deeper into the forest, heading straight towards the East, the trees soon became taller. The underbrush thinned out, but the canopy got thicker. They soon left the cave and the clearing entirely behind--along with the column of smoke from the grasslands--and traveled for some time with no disturbances. The dense foilage up above blocked out even more of the already fading sunlight...soon it would be pitch dark, unless Orchid wanted to light some of the others' torches. Doing so, however, might give away their position.

As the goblins tramped about over the leafy ground, tripping up over a root or two, they foraged for food and other materials as they went. Crispy and Yoona found a few Antidote Ferns, while Tiddies almost cut her foot on a Sharp Stone before picking it up. Bigs also found a Sharp Stone shaped almost perfectly for a spear head even without any knapping, and Wej found a bush full of Green Argeps. He began grabbing as many of them as he could carry, eating a few that were more ripe as he did so until the juice dribbled down his chin. He also found some Small Stones, perfect for slinging. Jezee and Clod also found Sharp and Small Stones, and Sqwal proudly showed off a Curved Stick with just the right heft to use as both a club and a throwing weapon if need be. Orchid herself found a bush of Blue Argeps, more properly ripened and thus much sweeter and less crunchy. There was also a Thick Vine wrapped around the woody stem of the bush, using it as a trellis to grow on.

But while this group of well armed goblins might be intimidating to most of the forest creatures, there was one that just didn't care. A familiar snarl greeted Orchid as her group gathered around the Blue Argep bush. From the shadows of a nearby tree, a creature slowly circled the group with bared fangs, head lowered as if preparing for a charge.

"ARMOR BADGER!" yelled Bigs, pointing frantically.

---

From one encounter to the other, Digbie was face-to-face with a Dire Rat, and from the looks of things they were just as scared of eachother as they should be. Digbie immediately took up the defensive, backpedaling a few steps away from the monster before taking a few more steps... and a few more steps... and a few more steps... until eventually he hoped to stop hear the hissing. The entire time he stepped backwards, though, he kept track of where he was in a directional sense.

"... okay... where am I?" He was sure he ran fairly straight towards the Rat, not very much steering around any paths aside dodging around trees, so if he went straight behind him he was sure to find his path again. He wasn't sure how far he had run, but if he went straight back towards him he'd certainly find it again if he was careful.

He was sure he was away from the Rat at this point, so he stopped to regain his directional bearings, facing towards the Flak Beetle's location to help him figure it out. Trying to save the Yill was important, but Digbie felt like he might be able to save it once he was back with his friends. After all, if the Broken Tower Goblins came back to see him, then he didn't want his friends to get in trouble without him to negotiate with them. He didn't need to figure out magic right now, he needed to get back to help his friends.

"Okay, okay... we're lookin' from where we came from to see the rat. If we look to the left, we'd see the mountains that had Earth God in it, and if we go to the right... we'd be goin' towards the stream. From there, we follow it to get back to Torrent, Oberon, and Ash... right?" It all sounded right in Digbie's head, but he could only figure out if it was by walking the path. Worst case, he tries to go back to revisit Earth God, and use his path all over again.

With a little hesitation, Digbie turned to the right (northwestwards, meta speaking), and he began to walk. He'd either find his path, the camp, or the stream if he was right, and any of those would be just fine. Hopefully he wouldn't have to fight on his way, though.

---

Ardur The Mighty Hipixie

rest sounds like a good idea > one last fight for the evening? /// Adventuring day 4 // Afternoon > Evening / Location - walking through the mountains > Edge of the forest

Ardur listened closely to what the slime was saying and eventually nodded in understanding. “So something like, System show Stats.” He said in a confident yet still kind of questioning way. After pondering it for a moment longer, he spoke again, “System Describe Mana Burn.” He pondered what it meant that they got updates like this. Maybe other creatures got this as well.

The slime continued to ask him about mana and how to regenerate it, while they headed down towards the forest edge. “Well I’m not sure about stamina regeneration other than resting or eating, but one of the others showed me that meditate can regenerate mana. I think getting some rest should work too. I am currently suffering from mana burn and my mana is not regenerating normally. Hopefully that goes away after we get some rest.” He was a little worried, the sun was near the horizon now and the four of them were still out in the open as the day light dwindled.

As the group got closer to the forest, they could see a large burrow in the ground with what looked to be some type of large beetle burrowing or pulling something out of it. “Look down there, that might just be big enough for all of us for the night then we could look for another base camp tomorrow. All we have to do is scare off or kill that beetle.” He watched it for a few more moments carefully looking over what he could make out of the beetle from the distance they were at. “Just have to be careful, if its exposing its backside like that I bet that’s where its defenses are.” Another important thing to learn from the nature documentaries.

Then he heard a mockery of his name come from the large slime of their party and then the partially dissolved remains of the lizard he had killed and called dibs on right before his transformation. “Uhh thank you.” Giving the slime a strange look. Picking up the lizard and tearing off its tail and one of the hind legs, he tossed the rest back in-between the two slimes. “Were a team now so we help each other out. You two split it then after lets go mess up that beetle, sound like a plan?” he asked tossing the leg to Steve who quickly pounced on it as he began to eat the tail.

@Zeroth
@Kazemitsu

---

@Zeroth@Duthguy

If Jason still had a heart, it would have stopped the moment that knight locked eyes on him.... Right now, the knight's white soul had in and of itself become a surging aura, held just beneath the skin, as if ready to explode at a moment's notice. In contrast to this, Danny's was blue; much bigger than the Dire Rat's, and the younger human's soul was gray at the center but surrounded by red tinged with white; appearing much larger than Danny's.

Even though Jason had no idea about what had happened leading up to his arrival at the scene, but a real fight had yet to start. He needed to take action before one broke out, and fast.

Slowly, Jason descended so he was just barely off the ground, raising two pseudopods above his head in a gesture of surrender as he focused mana into manifesting what he felt was his 'mouth' so to speak. "Easy there friend..." Jason spoke in a loud, yet calm voice. Keeping his pseudopods above him, and maintaining his current altitude, he slowly began to circle toward Danny; making sure he gave the walking fortress before him ample room. "I'm not looking for any trouble. My companion over by your squire is waiting for me so we can leave. He can't see me, but once he knows I'm by his side we'll be on our way."

Inch by inch Jason drew closer to Danny, not taking his eyes off the knight for even a second. Carefully, he watched for any fluctuations in spiritual energy, ready to react to any attack the knight might throw at him.

---

The frog was winning. She couldn't get a good grip, but immediately upon delivering it a potent dose of venom, the reaction it had was a violent one. The frog shook violently, its body spasming as it vomited her up, finally free from its attack. Shaking her head and scrunching her nostrils at the smell of the acid fumes, Ash watched with mild macabre interest as the frog began to expire. The frog seemed to follow rules of animals on earth as well - it had expelled its stomach in an attempt to get rid of the venom, but it was far too late. It screamed, its horrific croaking noises filling the forest air until it finally completely ceased, its body deflating like a balloon.

The usual level up notification met her gaze as she watched motionlessly.

Twelve points to spend? She had to wonder where all of these extra points were coming from, though she didn't ponder it too long, merely eager to accept them - and she immediately saw two new skills she'd definitely want to get her hands on swiftly. Those must have been the skills she was working towards earlier.

Two points into Mana Vision. Four points into Mana Sense. Three into Lesser Heal. That would help with what she was intending to do with the frog, if she could get another specimen later. That would leave her with three points leftover to save for future skills. Now then...this frog needed to be dealt with.

Walking up to the deceased specimen, Ash began the grizzly work of picking it apart. She started with the contents of its stomach. Using Monster, Material, and Alchemy on everything she could to ensure she knew how things worked. The Pixie Wings, the Rat Fur, the insect leg. Whatever she could find inside of it...then came the actual work. Taking her claws, Ash began pulling apart the creature, dissecting its insides now that she could no longer use it living. First was the skinning. Separating the skin from bone and muscles. Frog skin was rubbery and stretchy, it would make for some very good armor or clothing, perhaps. Maybe a sack of some sort. Having some armor would be fairly useful. Especially since this was resistant to water and fire and could help one keep warm in case of colder temperatures.

The entire process of dissecting it would likely take some time. From cutting off its stomach, separating the non-digested items, cutting out its tongue, eyes, heart, liver, intestines, and other things. All to simply see if they may be useful in some capacity. If she found some parts that weren't useful, she'd eat them. That was her entire purpose for this, after all. Once full, she'd set aside any leftovers for the other members of the group. No doubt they'd need some food later once they all returned and discussed their next plan of action.

While the humans' reaction hadn't been as good as he had hoped, at least they weren't attacking him and Danny now knew humans can understand him. He wondered how to best explain what he was without revealing the involvement of the Demon King. Realizing that silent for too long would be suspicious he spoke up. "Transformed is the best way to describe, I remember being a human in a different and dying which resulted in me being reborn as a Wisp. Now I don't know how accurate those memories are but seeing as I can talk to you they're likely to be real." That last part was a lie as he was one hundred percent confident he was indeed human and he hoped the humans wouldn't be able to notice, the knight in particular was sharp.

Luckily for him the knight seemed distracted by something though he couldn't tell what and he had only noticed because he was doing his best to keep an eye on both of them. Normally he would have ignored whatever the knight was focused on bur he knew that he had a habit of ignoring his surroundings when pre-occupied with something. Still if something was there it was either hidden really or invisible to him. Either way the sword pointing at him was more immediately important.

Still it bugged him the knight would no doubt be assisting his squire unless he believed whatever he was looking at to be more important. Danny really wished he had some way to see the invisible or something. Suddenly he remembered something Jason had once used the crystal he was now carrying to look at a Skelebin before he died. Slowly not wanting to seem aggressive he raised the shard and held it in front of one eye despite not expecting much.

The system message informing him that his Mana Burn had subsided was a relief; although the status effect hadn’t negatively affected him too much, what with multiple sources of Mana regeneration to draw on to overcome their reduced effectiveness, the threat of overworking himself and doing even more damage to himself had been like a weight on his shoulders that had prompted him to slow down. Now that it had passed he didn’t have to worry about that anymore and he didn’t have to be so hesitant with his experiments.

Speaking of which, it seemed like he was on the right track with his idea of drawing material into raw Mana to change its properties. Although merely submerging the Mana in water wasn’t enough for it to change its properties, the Mana instead being washed away which had its own implications, actively trying to draw water into the sphere produced the desired effect. The Mana Orb became translucent, blending into the water itself, only visible by the thin boundary between it and the actual water and the feel of it against his palm, before it too was washed away as he stopped concentrating on maintaining its shape.

Pulling his hand from the water, Oberon stepped back from the stream’s edge and gave this result some thought. It was possible to create elementally-aligned Mana by drawing an element or power from that element into a spell of raw Mana like his Mana Orb or by infusing a material with Mana like with the Stone Shot spell; he’d seen this happen with multiple elements now and had proven that it could be done on command like he had just done with the stream. The question now was… what were the limits of this?

It was fair to assume that magic in this world had a set number of elemental natures that it could take on, starting with the classical elements of fire, earth, water and air alongside more esoteric examples like nature or light; these elements were probably already known by the more knowledgeable magic users in this world, barring a few really weird examples. The scientific idea of the period table of elements from his world wouldn’t apply here; no iron or copper magic, just a generic ‘metal’ element, no helium magic, just ‘air’. Perhaps it was more conceptual in nature; the different elemental types driven by this worlds expectations of what was an element and what wasn’t with the effects of those spells affected by the subconscious will of the user as he had somewhat seen already. The Sprite supposed it didn’t matter much anyway, but it was interesting to think about; as scientific knowledge in this world advanced, would magic evolve with it as the common consensus changed?

More relevant right now was to think about what other elements were at play. Light Mana existed; did that mean shadow magic was a thing? Darkness Mana? Would bathing a Mana Orb in shadows and trying to draw their power into it work? That would be something to try tonight, perhaps. If he could find something made out of metal he could experiment with that as well; there was nothing at hand at the moment, but once they met up with those Goblins again maybe he could trade them something for one of their salvaged items. There was also the stream to work with; he hadn’t actually done anything with the water orb, bubble orb or whatever it would be called and he would have to go back to it later.

For now there was something else Oberon wanted to try. He raised a hand and produced a Mana Orb, holding it in the palm of his upturned hand and keeping it there. From there he tried to focus on the ambient Mana in the air around them, tapping into the same kind of senses that he used during his mediation to pick up on and draw into the dispersed field of raw Mana that seemed to exist in everything. Once he had a sense of that power he tried to change his perceptions, focusing not on the raw, unaligned Mana but the power in the air itself, power which he could hopefully channel directly into the Mana Orb rather than into himself. This would likely be harder than drawing power from the water or infusing it into the ground, since the air was looser for lack of a better word, harder to grasp. Nonetheless Oberon was willing to keep trying until he saw some sign of success.

Conquering the elements one step at a time seemed like a good of his efforts.



@Zeroth

---

Current Skills:
Stun Fang II (2.3)
Muffle III (3.0125)
Poison Spit II (2.0)
Poison Glob I (1.75)
Poison Breath II (2.075)
Fireball II (2.0)
Stealth Kill I (1.0)
Minor Recovery I (1.0)
Fire Resistance I (1.1)
Fire Breath I (1.85)
Rabid Fit I (1.0)
Meditate I (1.25)
Tremor Sense I (1.7)
Soil Manipulation I (1.1)
Underground Movement I (1.55)
Monster Analysis I (1.025)
Magic Analysis I (1.225)
Material Analysis I (1.025)
Plant Analysis I (1.025)
Scale Shift I (1.5)
Overwork I (1.0)
Analysis (--)
Mental Resistance I (1.2)
Spell Cancel I (1.05)
Sensory Resistance I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE>
Crafting (0.2)
Alchemy (0.4)
Alert (0.4)
Warcry (0.3)
Poison Fang (0.3)
Blunt Resistance (0.6)
Smash (0.2)
Magic Break (0.1)
Suppress Presence (0.3)
Spiritual Awareness (0.4)
Prehensile Tail (0.1)
Fortify (0.5)
Spell Chant (0.4)
Dual Cast (0.5)
Guidance (0.5)
Focus (0.2)
Flame Burst (0.1)

---

Torrent panted as she stared down at the remains of the plant that had tried to end her life. And the ashes, the scorched remains, the cooked plant-meat-stuff, and she felt a sense of overwhelming triumph blossom within her. Lifting her head slightly, she snorted before thinking on her skills.

And first and foremost among those, thanks to the new level she'd gained through that, she put five points into Dual Cast before she considered one of the new skills in her list. Guidance. It was alluring in a way, mysterious like Spell Cancel had been. With a moment of hesitation, she dropped her final five points into Guidance before turning her attention back to the 'loot' in front of her.

These could be helpful. Food, and the vines could maybe be useful for something if they couldn't be eaten?

While she thought it over she used Monster Analysis I, Magic Analysis I, Material Analysis I, and Plant Analysis I on the remains of the plant in hopes of learning more about the creature in case she needed to fight another one in the near future. Anything she learned she could also tell the others, improving their collective strength.

Another thought struck her, then, as she considered her options.

She had no mana. Which was, from what the skills said, how she used her fire abilities and some of the other ones. What was it that the others had said? Meditation was supposed to help with that, wasn't it? Wasn't that why she'd learned it in the first place?

With a careful glance around her, she used Mediation I for a few minutes to try and regain some mana. Her thoughts drifted back to the fire enveloping her, the heat permeating through her, and of the dancing shadows back when she was practicing in their little safe place before the Goblins appeared.

Feeling like she might be pushing her luck, Torrent turned back to the loot and made a snap decision. There was this thing in her throat that she never used before, and now was the time to do it.

Scooping up all five items, she stored them in her pouch and started back off towards base camp.

---

The warmth that he felt from his hands as well as the minor pains subsiding meant that he was going in the right direction. But the fact that he was unable to keep the flow even while he wanted it to meant that he was still inexperienced in handling his own magic. Ed winced slightly before shaking off the mild pain that the slight headache he was experiencing brought with it. A familiar sign that his body's magic reserves was near empty. Ed took not that he might as well learn to control the amount of mana he used in each of his tests in the future. Hearing Asteria call out to this world's mysterious 'System', he took a short break and looked back slightly to the younger adult dire rat. "Did anything happen when you asked the System to show your skills?" He asked her while she returned to help with the digging. After waiting for her response, Ed would go back to work.

After a short while more of monotonous digging, Ed paused to revel in the progress of their temporary place of rest. They had made great progress in such a short time with the three of them working on digging out the earth. Their burrow was already big enough to fit the three of them and keep them hidden from any unwanted observers...if Ed had been around only one and a half feet tall. Sadly, reality is disappointing. Ed was nearly three feet tall, maybe a little over three feet if he stood tall and used his tail as a boost of sorts. It was nearing the end of the afternoon and approaching the beginning of the evening, but it seems that they will have to work a little bit longer before they can take a proper and well deserved rest. Letting out a mildly discouraged huff, Ed was about to get back to making the hole a little deeper when his ears perked up and swiveled atop his head. [Beast Sense II] had picked up something faint sound. An almost negligible one even among the sounds of the winds blowing through the plains and the sound of dirt being displaced by rat hands. Perhaps he wouldn't have even picked it up if he didn't choose to appreciate their work and be slightly disappointed by it.

Turning his head to where the source of the faint fluttering was originating, Ed saw a flying bug thing that was circling above the flowers Asteria had picked up earlier this day. But this bug was weird, it was casting a shadow even if it wasn't very near the ground. A rather big one for a bug. Something wasn't right. Something was wrong about this situation. He could practically feel the fur all over his body stand on end. Using [Beast Sense II] Ed focused everything on his sense of vision. Observing and trying to keep track of the flying bug's movement. Making sure it wasn't going to do anything hostile before he was armed and ready. Ed deliberately lowered his body and slowed his movements, he looked to where his gnarled stick was located and activated [Muffle II] before making his way there to re-equip his current weapon.

---

---

Asteria took a moment away from digging as the system mentally pinged her and notified her of her growing skill list. The ones nearest the next level were her Beast sense, Dextrous, Mana Sense, Charisma, Soil manipulation and Plant analysis. She knew where most of the points for these came from, but couldn’t help but wonder if the latest points in charisma were gained from intimidating that goblin girl. But no, if she’d gained anything at all from that, it’d be a negative counter-point to charisma – there likely was a skill dealing solely with intimidation or threatening others. All things considered, she was much more interested in some of the odder skills, especially Mana flex, Lucid dream, and Spiritual awareness. As far as what seemed useful, there were plenty others she could now set as a goal to work toward. It was only Ed’s question that caused her to realize she’d been idle for as long as she had been. “Yes, the system responded. Makes me wonder if I can…just to test something…System: track progress for the skill Soil manipulation.”

She then went straight back to digging out the tunnel, trying to expand it so it would be a better fit for Ed. Asteria was so absorbed in her task, that she didn’t notice a potential danger until after Ed had been away for her to finally notice. When she turned from the trio’s new temporary home to look for him, she noticed an ominous shadow, which Ed already had a plan for, if the way he was on the way to re-equip his weapon was anything to go by. And since their enemy was a flying bug, a weapon wasn’t that bad of an idea. It was nothing if not convenient that their digging had unearthed several stones, and Asteria wrapped her tail around one, swung the appendage in a circle, and released the stone, aiming to hit the flying insect with it. She’d continue pelting the beetle with the projectiles until the beetle reacted, after which she’d focus on dodging and keeping its attention on her for now.

Skill Gain: Alert I! (0.9 > 1.0)!
Though this skill is limited by the strength of your senses, and does not sharpen your senses on its own, it allows you to become more aware of your surroundings. Without conscious effort, you will pick up on signs in your environment more easily, especially if they present some form of danger to you. Essentially this is an anti-ambush skill.

The System is already tracking Progress for Developing Skill:Soil Manipulation.

When Ed and Asteria looked up from their work--not just up from the tunnel, at the shadow on the ground next to them, but actually up into the sky--they saw the bug that was making that large shadow. Mother Rat poked her head out from the burrow as well, and gave a startled squeak. Enormous black scaled wings with spiraling purple patterns beat up and down, casting reflections from the sunlight that looked like all the colors of an oil slick. A dark purple, furry body between the wings was split into three segments, with a long abdomen ending in a barbed stinger. On its head, a large V shaped pair of antennae looked like they were formed of much harder stuff than a normal insect's sensory organs, almost like horns. They curved backwards like a mountain goat's, forming dual crescents over its rounded head. Two sets of compound eyes bulged from it, just above a curled probiscis with a needle like a syringe at its tip. The creature's six legs dangled limply from it as it circled, now getting closer, and they were each tipped with three claws evenly spaced from one another like the letter Y.

Asteria let fly a stone, and the insect's head darted as soon as her tail whipped around. It did a barrel roll to escape, its wings beating rapidly before it swooped down over them--not close enough for them to hit it with melee attacks, but close enough to make one duck uncomfortably. It zoomed across the grass, getting lower until its fuzzy body was brushed by the top of the stalks, before it circled around and came towards the rats again, getting faster every second...

---

"Ja-Soon, needa get outta here!"
"Dat's a Venture! Super strong one, run run run!"

As Jason creeped around the knight, the man kept looking at the spot where he had been for a few moments...before his head slowly started to follow Jason's path. So it didn't seem like he could outright "see" Jason, and he certainly didn't react to the spirit's speech...but he could sense something, he knew something was there. And after another tense second, he turned back towards the cave...

"Transformed is the best way to describe it, I remember being a human in a different world and dying which resulted in me being reborn as a Wisp. Now I don't know how accurate those memories are but seeing as I can talk to you they're likely to be real."

"Re...Reborn?" The boy's eyes got wider, and continued to dart between Danny and his master. His mouth moved without any sound coming out, until he finally seemed to find the words he wanted to say. He tensed up. "Th-that's not p-possible! Only, only True Heroes can be Reborn! And, and only the Chosen Heroes can come from different worlds! And none of them are ever Monsters! That can't happen, even with Avatar Incar--"

"Squire!" The boy practically bit his tongue he shut his mouth so fast. Still holding a blade towards Danny in a shaking hand, he turned to the knight.

"Y-yes, Master Zieglar!"

"You were right about this Dungeon being Undead--I can feel weaker Spirits leaving it, probably to avoid being consumed by the Core. But if anything is coming out of it at all, that means you need to seal it up, quickly! So make your decision to deal with the Poltergeist!" The knight now turned his head upwards, sniffing the air. He grimaced in the direction of the growing black clouds of smoke. "I'd wager those damn goblins set the grasslands on fire for some reason...I'll deal with that. I trust you to handle yourself, Trent!"

"Y-yes sir!"

In the short time of this conversation, Jason had floated closer to Danny, and Danny pulled out his Source Crystal Shard to use while observing Trent.

You used Source Crystal Shard!
---Trent---
(Immature) Human [(Apprentice) Knight]
All stats are superior to your own
Possesses Combat Skills: Slash, Skewer, Cleave, Defender, Blade Charge
Possesses Spell Skills: Minor Heal, Mana Shape, Mana Orb
Possesses Equipment: Steel Shortsword, Rawhide Targe, Leather Gloves, Leather Boots, Thick Gambeson, Forest Traveler's Cloak, Cotton Undershirt, Wool Pants, Cotton Underpants, Wool Socks, Leather Belt, Steel Hunting Knife
---Charge Empty---

Do you wish to use your MP to recharge the Source Crystal Shard?

"Poltergeist!" The boy turned back to the talking monster and steeled himself. "If, if you're not lying to me, which I bet you are, then get away from here! Don't hurt any humans, and...j-just go away for now! Don't come back to this cave! And d-don't follow me or my Master! Or, or else I'll have to kill you!" He looked back at the cave, and then at the tree he had chosen to cut down to make his barrier. "Hurry up! I've got to seal the Dungeon off so we can get back to camp before nightfall!"

---

Oberon raised his hand and produced a Mana Orb, before he closed his eyes and expanded his focus. He could feel the Mana circulating throughout his body, ending at his hand, spilling out into a natural shape. Like fluids in zero-gravity, it took the shape of the orb. He then sought to expand his mind beyond himself, as he did in Meditation, to feel the Mana within everything. His Mana Orb began to flicker, as if it were losing cohesion--the Meditation skill couldn't be used in conjunction with another, after all. But Oberon didn't intend to Meditate. This tottering state, trying to walk the line within his own concentration, felt vulnerable and abstract. As if, if he actually concentrated on it too hard, he might lose whatever it was he was looking for. But he could feel it, and knew it was there. So now he did not try to feel the Mana around him, but only Mana within the air. He was seeking something specific, reaching for it with his own senses while still trying to maintain the flickering Mana Orb...

This mindset, trying to expand one's awareness, and then softly guide it back...this form of mindfulness brought a certain peace. He could feel the Mana circulating through him. He could feel the buzz of background static, the ambient Mana of all types mingling together around him. He could feel the light falling across his body, its gentle heat on his skin...and the breeze in his hair...

A gentle breeze, yet somehow much louder in his ears. A different sensation, something like the feeling of being at the bottom of a pool and pushing off, that rush before you broke the surface--being submerged, but in reverse--

When Oberon opened his eyes, his Mana Orb had grown even flimsier, weaker, but it hadn't dissolved yet...because it was spinning. Was some kind of centrifugal force keeping it together? It spun faster and faster, and it began to break apart at its center but it was still somehow holding together along the edges, and pressure of some sort was building in two different directions--

Oberon hadn't realized he was holding his breath, and when he could do so no longer on reflex he gasped and dragged for air--and when he did the spinning Mana Orb burst like a balloon, complete with the flatulating sound of rapidly escaping air.

---

Skill Gain: Mana Vision I (1.0)!
Concentrate MP in your eyes to see the fluctuations of Mana. The level of detail and other qualities of your Mana Vision depend not only on the Rank of this Skill, but also on your physical sense of sight. Depending on the strength of your concentration, having a lesser sense of vision may also consume Stamina when using this Skill. At your current Rank, you can only see strange fluctations of magic energies and shapes that are not easily understood...

Skill Gain: Mana Sense I (1.0)!
You have sharpened our mental and spiritual senses! By focusing upon a single creature or object, you will be able to sense its magical nature in some fashion. Different creatures may perceive this in different ways--some may see a colored aura, others may catch unique scents, etc. This is not an Analysis skill, though it may synergize with some of them. The range of this skill is limited to that of your other physical senses, though in some cases a mana signature may become easier or more difficult to detect depending on factors such as strength, amount, etc. By touching an object or creature, even if they are somehow suppressing their magical power, you have a chance to learn whether or not magic is present. At this rank you must activate this skill in order for it to take effect. While active it will consume MP.

Skill Gain: Minor Heal I (1.0)!
The most basic of healing spells. In most cases, only surface level wounds are affected. Cannot cure diseases. May even accelerate certain conditions not healed by the body's natural recovery. Cast upon a single target within eyesight.

You used Monster Analysis II!
You used Material Analysis II!
You used Alchemy II!
---Pixie Wings---
The wings of a Pixie monster, plucked cruelly from its back. Pixies, though humanoid in shape, are tiny and relatively unintelligent Monsters. Intelligent enough to use Magic, they are very physically weak. They are also quite mischevious, however, and lack empathy for other creatures.

Their Wings are formed of thin, membranous structures interlaced with hair-thin blood vessels. They are too fragile for any form of physical use, but they hold some semi-magical properties. A pixie's mana naturally tends towards Energy and Nature elements. If crumbled up and applied to a wound, a Pixie Wing is known to somehow slow or stop bleeding. If eaten they are somewhat nutritious, but their small size and the fact that they are known to irritate the throat makes this a less potent usage. There may be other uses you haven't discovered yet...

These Pixie Wings are of Below Average Quality. They are Membranous, Fragile, Organic, Non-toxic, Coagulate, Edible, and Slightly Magical.
---Dire Rat Fur---
The fur of a Dire Rat, still carrying its distinctive musk. Beast-type monsters, they are very physically strong and have sharp senses. They sometimes hunt in packs.

Their fur is of medium length by comparison to their body size, and often coarse or dirty. Though their hides can be tanned or otherwise used in crafting, their fur by itself is of limited use. It is surprisingly soft to the touch, though. It has no magical properties, but may carry certain diseases or parasites from the rat. Dissolving a strand of Dire Rat Fur may make a solution more toxic. There may be other uses you haven't discovered yet...

This Dire Rat Fur is of Below Average Quality. It is Fibrous, Organic, Fragile, Slightly Toxic, Non-edible, non-magical, and Insulating.
---??? Leg---
The leg of an insectoid Monster, still coated in its hard exoskeleton. Its end comes to a few short digits with hard tips, and rough spines are present on the lower half. The interior consists of an open circulatory system and deteriorated muscle mass. It seems rather useless given its state, but perhaps creativity could discover other uses...

This object is of Poor Quality. It is Chitinous, Organic, Hard, Slightly Sharp, Non-toxic, Somewhat Edible, and Non Magical.
---Rubber Frog Skin---
The elastic skin of a Rubber Frog. It can stretch up to twenty times its original size, but as it begins to dry this quality lessens. To properly preserve it will require a treatment method of some sort. When stretched, it does not usually maintain the shape for long, and if forced to do so the skin becomes more likely to tear and less durable. It doesn't hold any magical properties. If eaten it has limited nutrition, but the difficulty in chewing it makes it troublesome. There may be other uses you haven't discovered yet...

This Rubber Frog Skin is of High Quality. It is Elastic, Organic, Insulating, Slightly Acidic, Somewhat Edible, Non-Magical, and Durable.
---Rubber Frog Stomach---
The stretchy gut sac of a Rubber Frog. Its outer membrane is fairly durable for an internal organ, but when the Rubber Frog swallows something harmful it actually inverts this sac and temporarily disgorges it, brushing away the offending object before swallowing the stomach again. The interior lining, compared to the outer, is actually stronger while sharing the same elasticity--even with a sharp tip, a mundane or dull weapon might have some trouble piercing it. The acids within the stomach are actually not all that strong. Many of the insects the Rubber Frog eats have an acidic body composition of their own, and it is actually an accumulation of the prey's bodily fluids that helps the frog digest its own meals. Once the acid has been neutralized and the interior cleaned, this sac could make a very useful pouch, or be used for a variety of other things...

This Rubber Frog Stomach is of Poor Quality due to damage. It has High Elasticity, it is Organic, Insulating, Somewhat Edible, Water Resistant, Non-Magical, and Very Durable.
---Rubber Frog Tongue---
This muscular organ, once detached from the body, can still stretch up to twenty feet long before it begins to strain--so long as it is kept moist. If stretched to its full extent before being allowed to dry, the resulting cord would be significantly weaker than normal rope but still serviceable. So long as it is properly preserved, however, it is several times stronger and more durable than most forms of cordage. While it is quite difficult to tear and won't fray, it is very vulnerable to being cut or pierced.

This Rubber Frong Tongue is of High Quality. It has High Elasticity, it is Organic, Edible, Slimy, Absorbant, Non-Magical, Non-Toxic, and Durable.
---Rubber Frog Eyes---
These ocular organs aren't that different in composition from other amphibians, and have no inherent magical qualities. While edible, the mucus produced by the frog to keep them from drying out gives them a slimy, slippery texture and a rather sour taste. Despite this, they are packed with nutrition and especially high in protein.

These Rubber Frog Eyes are of Average Quality. They are Organic, Edible, Slimy, Non-Magical, Chewy, Sour, Slightly Acidic, and Non-Toxic.
---Rubber Frog Heart---
It seems even the circulatory system of a Rubber Frog is stretchy. This blood pumping organ is capable of drawing and distributing an incredibly large amount of blood in comparison with other creatures of larger size, likely so that a Rubber Frog that inflated itself to maximum size wouldn't immediately pass out due to anemia, or suffer an aneurysm upon rapid deflation. As a result the heart is almost balloon-like, after being drained of its blood and properly cleaned. Using it as a bellows or even a filter pump of some sort might be possible, or as a sac. Cutting it open to spread it out to its full size, then properly treating it might even yield decent leather despite it being an internal organ. There might even be other uses...

This Rubber Frog Heart is of High Quality. It has High Elasticity, it is Organic, Edible, Non-Magical, Slightly Acidic, Slightly Toxic, Very Durable, and Blood-Rich.
---Rubber Frog Liver---
Less elastic than other parts of the Rubber Frog, this Liver only stretches enough to compensate large amounts of bile that must be processed. The Rubber Frog's heavily insectivorous diet means it often eats creatures with poisonous stings or bites, acidic spit, or dirt-and-who-knows-what covered bodies. All of these impurities are safely filtered out by this organ. Its secretions contain several chemicals capable of neutralizing various poisons--at least ones that have been internally ingested.

This Rubber Frog Liver is of Average Quality. It has Very Low Elasticity, it is Organic, Somewhat Edible, Non-Magical, Strongly Anti-toxic, Slightly Acidic, Somewhat Durable, Slimy, Chewy, and Blood-Rich.
---Rubber Frog Intestines---
Because the Rubber Frog often swallows prey whole, their intestines are just as elastic as their stomach in order to compensate large portions of semi-digested food. The gut flora and natural acid secretions in the intestinal track are much stronger than in the stomach, however, and get even stronger as the Rubber Frog adapts to any poisons or acids contained in its prey. The inner and outer linings are equally durable, and once completely cleaned out the intestines could conceivably serve as a strong rubber rope or some kind of tubing. They won't stand up to sharp objects very well and are more susceptible to bludgeoning due to their size. If allowed to dry out completely their use would rapidly degrade. One must also be careful to consider all the...mess...contained inside them...

This Rubber Frog Intestine is of Poor Quality due to Damage. It has High Elasticity, it is Organic, Slightly Non-edible, Highly Toxic, Highly Acidic, Somewhat Durable, Slimy, Chewy, Disgusting, Absorbant, and Blood-Rich.
---Rubber Frog Bones---
Unlike the rest of its body, the Rubber Frog's bones are not elastic. Their makeup, strength, and size are comparable to other creatures of the Rubber Frog's proportions. They can still be somewhat useful in crafting, especially the larger bones such as a the rear legs and the ribcage.

These Rubber Frog Bones are of Above Average Quality. They are Organic, Somewhat Dense, Somewhat Hard, Slightly Brittle, Light Weight, Mineral Composite, and Durable.
---Analysis Complete!---

Skill Rank Up: Material Analysis I (1.6) > Material Analysis II (2.2)!
Your growing familiarity with various materials allows you to pick up more details about objects and may even bring up a subconscious recognition of what Craftable Objects might be the most suitable for a given item, compared to your own experience with any items you have crafted. You will also be able to more accurately compare different materials to one another.

After separating out various materials from the Rubber Frog, Ash was left with several pounds of meat. Eating it raw, the texture seemed quite oily like that of a fish, but the flavor brought to mind a very fattened chicken. Even after eating enough to more than fill her stomach, Ash was left with at least six pounds of flesh left over. Still being raw and full of juices, she could probably only compress or ball up a pound of it at a time if she intended to fit it into her throat pouch--but if she did that, how would she carry all of the materials back as well? She would either need to make multiple trips, risking that some scavenging predator would be attracted to what was left of her loot in the mean time, or figure out some way to signal the others...

---

As Digbie backed away from the Dire Rat, it continued to growl and hiss at him. It too began to edge backwards, one slow step at a time. The tension in the air was palpable, and had to burst at some point...then it did, as Digbie's foot barely crunched down on a dry twig. The Dire Rat immediately turned and bolted off, at almost the same time as Digbie took another step backwards. Out here in the wilderness, the only time it seemed these animals didn't want to avoid conflict was when their survival was on the line. They might charge an intruder in their territory, or put on a show of howling and stomping, but at the end of the day if one just turned around and left most of the time it wasn't worth the risk to the other creature to engage in a pursuit...at least, not for fellow prey creatures. Digbie had yet to run into any real predators...

After a short search, the Demiblin was able to retrace his steps and find his previous trail. Following it back through the forest, it took only a few minutes before he began to recognize other landmarks. The only other creature he encountered was a Rubber Frog that leaped out from under a pile of leaves as he approached. With a croak it fled further into the woods. Soon Digbie found the stream. As he approached it, and began to follow it back to the campsite, he noticed Torrent on the opposite side of it. She looked somewhat battered, but if she had been fighting with something then she must have obviously won.

---

Skill Gain: Dual Cast I (1.0)!
Splitting one's focus is a difficult task, but like playing the drums it can be learned. Casting different spells with different effects or requirements increases the difficulty and the MP required, but the caster's mindset can also affect this Skill. A Caster at this Rank may Dual Cast by: (1) Cast the same spell simultaneously, usually within two hands. Example using Current Skills: Fireball. This expends twice the MP cost, and both versions of the spell must be the same Rank, but the Casting time is only that of a single cast.(2) Prepare two spells simultaneously, to be used one at a time. Example using Known Skills: Digbie's Rock Spire and your Fireball. Rock Spire is prepared but not cast; the Earth Mana shines under the targeted area. Fireball is cast at a target, knocking it into Rock Spire's prepared area. Rock Spire is released. Both spells can be no higher than Rank I. Delayed Spells can be held no longer than 10 seconds at this rank. Certain spells that might require rituals, components, or other complexities might not be Dual Cast in this manner even at Rank I. This use consumes twice the MP for a Delayed Spell plus the normal MP cost for the other spell. (3) Cast a single instance of two different spells, usually within two hands. Example using Known Skills: Your Fireball and Ash's Mana Slice. You cast Fireball at a target to your right and Mana Slice at a target to your left, at the same time. This usage expends the sum of both spells' MP cost, and requires a slightly longer casting time, but both spells can be used at the same time or one after the other. Both spells must be Rank I. Certain spells with more complexities may not be Dual Cast even at Rank I. Certain spells that synergize well may increase in power or cause new effects when Dual Cast in this way.

There are several drawbacks to the Dual Cast Skill. Passive Skills can already be used together unless they contradict or otherwise interfere with one another; Dual Cast cannot be used to combine Passive and Active Skills. Example using Current Skills: Meditate and Fireball. Casting Fireball would cancel Meditation immediately. Dual Cast requires that the caster split their focus; it cannot be used with your <Unusable>Focus skill or similar abilities. Dual Cast only works on Spell Type Skills, it cannot combine Spells with your Physical Skills. It also cannot combine Pure Spell skills with Battle Spell Skills, but Battle Spell Skills can be Dual Cast. Dual Cast and <Unusable>Spell Chant cannot be used together at the Current Rank. Even when the caster has higher proficiency with both of these abilities, the amount of MP consumed and the increased chance of error within the Chants make such a combination risky.

Skill Gain: Guidance I (1.0)!
Your pleas have been heard. Offer up a portion of your MP in prayer, and gain a chance to receive supernatural guidance. The effectiveness of the teachings depends on your faith--and your ability to read the signs. Does rustling grass along the path show your way, or reveal danger? Was that a whispered voice, or just the wind? Your faith will shape your journey. The better your relation with a particular deity, the more likely you are to receive their guidance.

You used Monster Analysis I!
You used Magic Analysis I!
You used Material Analysis I!
You used Plant Analysis I!
---Dead Blood Snare Plant---
A large plant that, for some strange reason, forms its flowers and many other parts from tissue very similar to flesh rather than wood or greenery. Perhaps being made of the muscular substance is why its vines are so strong. It is a carnivorous plant, lashing out at prey, but it has very little stamina. It thus waits for a chance to surprise the unwary herbivore, but otherwise displays no intelligence. Its strength and aggressiveness, however, causes some academics to insist it be classified as a Monster. It typically appears in dense deciduous forests, but has occasionally been found outside this environment. It doesn't grow well in domestication. It can often be found in places with higher populations of Monsters; blood spilled on the ground from their conflicts becomes an easy source of nutrition for it, as it doesn't have to kill and digest the prey before its roots can absorb the food. Blood triggers a strong reaction from the vines that search for prey, causing them to instantly lash out or constrict around the source. This plant's petals are actually closer in structure to animal tissues than plant fibers, which may also be a form of bait for meat eating animals. When separated from the plant they can be cooked and eaten much like a soft, fatty meat, but they burn quite easily and if dried out too much or smoked they lose the majority of their flavor. The vines make good cordage, but once they dry out they may rot away quickly if not properly preserved. Dipping them in blood occasionally even keeps them "alive," though once cut off from the root system they won't bloom anymore. This plant was killed by fire magic.

The plant's body has been burned too badly to use the majority of it for most purposes.
---Grilled Flesh Leaf---
A leaf that looks more like meat than a plant, from the Blood Snare. It's been quickly cooked with a flash of intense heat in the open air, rendering it much safer to eat and sealing in the juicy flavor. The blood hasn't been drained though--this kind of steak should be considered the rarest of the rare! Beware any diseases!

This item is Organic, Blood Rich, Chewy, and Nutritious. It is of Above Average Quality.
---Blood Snare Vine---
A thick red vine from a Blood Snare plant. When exposed to fresh blood, tissues under the outer layer of the vine contract similarly to muscles. The original plant most likely uses this to constrain creatures for some purpose. It is Fibrous, Elastic, Tough, Organic, Flammable, and Water Absorbant. It is of Below Average Quality due to damage.

After resting up for a moment to recover some of her MP, Torrent took her loot and headed back upstream towards the camp. About halfway there, she saw Digbie coming out of the forest. It wouldn't be long before they would reach the campsite again to find Oberon, but where was Ash...?

---

"Oh gosh, Torrent!" Digbie exclaimed as he rushed over closer to her. The stream was still in the way, but it was rather gentle. Digbie cautiously waded through it before getting back onto shore and rushing towards Torrent, preparing a spell to cast for once he arrived. As he prepared, he started to chant to himself, using {Spell Chant} in tandem with {Sacred Ground} to get some healing done for Torrent.



If that worked out, Digbie would talk to Torrent right there. "I'm not able to heal us on the move like Oberon can. Sorry."

---