Monster

by Sergey Belsky

  The third table had only one line, which indicated that I had the genes for cave moss. Hmm… what should I upgrade then? On one hand, I need to keep developing my brain, but on the other - the grave beetle had managed to damage me greatly and I had too little power to feel confident fighting him again.

  Only my anger and luck helped me hit his eyes with the stone shards, otherwise, I would’ve been in trouble. Thus, I could conclude I needed a higher level of defense or something that would help me damage the enemy more successfully.

  I guessed it would take too long to develop my hands enough that they could do real damage because I’d had to hit the beetle a lot before he died. I guess I’ll develop the jaws. I’ll try to bite my enemies with them. I put all fifty points into them.

  Chapter 7

  The development. Bad beetles. The gratitude for the help.

  Your jaws are evolving. Now you have Long Jaws

  Stats: Evolution +1, Strength +2, Structure +1.

  20 points of experience gained

  Wow! That’s great! After clicking a couple of times with my new jaws, I felt a lot more confident. Besides, I’d gained some more experience. I need to upgrade the jaws to a hundred and then develop my hands.

  After that, there’ll be plenty of time to consider the inner organs and the genes. I’ll have to learn how to invest my points better because I’m not getting enough experience. Now my stats looked like this:

  Character’s name: Tes Sel Er

  Race: Monster

  Class: -

  Level 5

  Experience: 20 (Total: 120)

  Health: 22/56

  Energy: 30/30

  Basic stats:

  Mind: 6

  Evolution: 5

  Structure: 2

  Complexity: 1

  Secondary stats:

  Mobility: 1

  Knowledge: 1

  Strength: 5

  Life: 6

  I seemed to be growing and had some energy, but how should I use it? Khha might know something about it. I got hungry and decided to eat a rubitus.

  However, as soon as I looked at my inventory, I started hissing in anger. Those damn rippers had snatched up some ingredients while I’d been dead. It was a bit painful because I’d spent so much time searching for them.

  Having eaten the rubitus, I was pleasantly surprised to see my health had totally recovered. Life became much better. After stretching my legs, I headed back to the old fellow.

  The “Strength” stat had grown and I felt it at once. My movements became more confident and firm. Each step seemed different from before as if my body had become a lot lighter.

  I wondered if I’d be able to breach the shining shells of the two-legged by upgrading my legs and strength. I’ll need to check it out. While approaching the old fellow’s stone, I saw something unusual.

  There were three rather big beetles standing by it. They were twice as tall as me, green, had big claws on their forelegs and quite powerful jaws covered in numerous spikes.

  Each of them had four dark-brown eyes that glared at everything around them. Their shells were covered with small, sharp spikes as well.

  These beetles somehow resembled the two-legged with their shining armor, but they were bigger. They rolled the stone aside, and after dragging the old fellow out, started kicking him with their powerful legs.

  I nearly rushed over to help the old bug, but he noticed me and looked at me so strangely that I couldn’t move.

  Spiker, level 55

  Spiker-warrior, level 57

  Spiker-fighter, level 61

  The information about their levels stopped me dead in my tracks once again. I couldn’t defeat them. It was damn hard, and it hurt me to watch the kind, the old bug being beaten, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Where are our supplies?” one of them asked Khha.

  “Kh…”

  “I can’t hear you!” the other one shouted.

  “We fight the two-legged around here, defending small freaks like you, and you can’t even get us some food to help us regain our power after our deaths,” the fighter was walking around him as he spoke. “How can you explain this, Khha? You haven’t let us down before, which is why you lead a quiet life.”

  “You’ve killed me seven times…” the old fellow hissed.

  “No big deal, gonna do it an eighth time too,” said the fighter merrily. “Well, Khha? Why haven’t you gathered our supplies? Where’s all the stuff?”

  “May the dark gods take you, I’m sick and tired of you, you four-eyed freaks… khe… khe” the cave bug started coughing from the strong hit the warrior delivered to his belly.

  “Look, his shell is soft there” the warrior grinned.

  “Maybe here as well?” he hit the old fellow’s back with his sharp claw and the shell cracked open at that spot.

  “What’s up, Khha?” the fighter asked? “Not feeling too well?”

  “No, I’m alright, but you’re sick monsters” the old fellow spat out some blood. “Looks like the rippers have rotted your brains by chopping you up like little gvalkhs over and over.”

  “You’re too talkative, old man,” the high-level spiker hissed. “I think we have nothing more to talk about. We’ll look for another supplier. Have a nice afterlife,” he said, and with one powerful blow, he rammed his foreleg through the smaller bug’s body. The fighter’s claw even broke the stone underneath the cave bug. “And now you die.”

  The beetles left, and the old fellow lay there, wheezing. I waited until the three of them were a good distance away and then rushed over to the old man.

  “Can I help you in any way?” I looked at poor Khha: his shell had been broken in two places and I didn’t know what I could do for him. Blood was flowing out of the wounds, flooding the stones under the cave bug.

  “No, you can’t, there’s no way,” he wheezed out. “But it’s good you didn’t interfere, otherwise those freaks would’ve made you collect supplies for them”

  “I gathered everything you asked for, but I don’t even think they needed it.”

  “Kh… I see you’ve succeeded.”

  The task “Stock up on food” completed!

  100 points of experience received!

  “Now take the supplies you gave me earlier. They’re in the cave, under another stone” the old fellow spat out a glob of blood and I felt uneasy.

  “Are you going to come back soon?”

  “I’m sorry, kid, this was my last rebirth” the old man looked at me with kindness. “I just didn’t want anyone to pity me, that’s why I lied.

  Take this as well, I don’t need it anymore, but you’ll make use of it someday.” Khha stretched out his claw. There was a little sack hanging on its edge, tied to it with a red string. “It’s good to not have to die alone, Tes Sel Er… long-awaited.” The old fellow’s jaws twisted in a strange way and he became quiet.

  “Hey, Khha, are you…” I sat next to the old bug and looked at the little sack.

  Carefully taking hold of the string with my claw, I untied it and saw ten yellow, circular objects inside. I didn’t know what I could use them for, but something told me that the old fellow had given me a great present, which would help me in the future.

  I threw the stones out of my inventory and put the disks into the now empty cell. The old man had a transparentus and ten turquoitus, not counting the ones I had brought him earlier. Now, I had to do one more thing. I swallowed some of the cave bug’s blood, but I saw no changes. After that, I took the old fellow’s body and carefully brought it into the cave and placed it there.

  After covering it with small pebbles, I tried to move the big one, but I barely managed it. It took me almost an hour to put that stone back in its place.

  “Rest in peace, Khha, and thank you for your help,” I said and headed off after placing everything into the cache, apart from the round disks.

  Your body is getting more adaptive

  +1 to Complexity

&
nbsp; 30 points of experience gained!

  “Thank you for this present as well, old man”

  Chapter 8

  The map. Exploration. The unusual space.

  I didn’t know where to go now and started to think. I need to develop somehow, without encountering freaks like the spikers, but how do I do that?

  It would be much better to know where I was because I didn’t understand what was going on around me. No sooner had I thought about it than a map appeared before my eyes.

  Okay, I see. So, I’m not far from Khha’s place. There is the lake, the moss, the mushrooms, and even the glittering stones called iron ore. The three bugs went farther north, so I havent checked out what is there or in the southwest, or in two tunnels in the southeast and northern directions.

  Anyway, what is this stuff? I hadn’t seen it earlier, I might not have paid attention to it, or my brain had been unable to process all the information at the time. Well, let’s start with the south-westerly direction. I set off.

  The map was both simple and clear. I wondered if I could put my experience into it to upgrade it. I decided to test it later because right now I couldn’t afford to waste my experience.

  Of course, I have collected one hundred and fifty points, but I’m not going to invest them. Let’s see what’s awaiting me first.

  Sometime later, the tunnel began to narrow. After an hour’s movement on the stones, jumping over small cracks, I saw the tunnel bending down at an acute angle.

  In a while, I found myself standing at the top of the slope. Here and there, I could see little stones of different sizes, though the biggest one was smaller than my hand. I wonder why it’s like this.

  I began to descend, walking down and down the slope, my heart beating faster as I waited to see what was hidden in the darkness of the unknown.

  I pictured some huge beetles or something equally as nasty. Several times, I thought I was going to be killed but that was just my imagination. Half an hour later, I finally reached the bottom of the slope and stood right at its edge. After thinking for a few minutes, I carried on walking.

  Out of oxygen supply! Replenish the supply of oxygen, otherwise, you will die within 60, 59... 47 seconds!

  What is happening? I’m breathing, but for some reason still suffocating. What should I do? I ran about in a panic because it would take too long to go back, but I just didn’t know where to go instead. So, I rushed forward.

  10, 9 …6 seconds

  “A-a-a-a-ahh” I was crying, not understanding what was happening when suddenly the numbers disappeared, and I was still alive, surprised I was able to breathe again. “Whew!”

  Having caught my breath, I looked around but saw nothing unusual. No sooner had I moved just a couple of meters than I saw the numbers flashing before my eyes again and I moved back.

  Well, well, is there something wrong here? Looking around the place more carefully, I noticed a small crack in the floor, from where a strong wind was blowing. Aha, I see. So, this is the oxygen I so desperately need.

  There might be some other oases of oxygen, but how can I find them? This gas doesn’t smell, therefore I will be unable to use my upgraded sense of smell. My eyes won’t help either, because they just can’t see the gas, hmm… but what about my hearing?

  I moved closer to the crack and heard hissing. Bingo! Of course, I wasn’t happy about potentially wasting my experience, but I couldn’t do anything here, needing to go farther to survive. I put fifty points in my hearing.

  Your hearing organs are evolving.

  Stats: Structure +1, Mobility +1.

  Effect: “Improved Hearing”

  20 points of experience gained!

  To tell the truth, I couldn’t notice much of a difference. No, I was wrong. I could hear the source clearly now, but only one, which was close by. I would have to take a risk.

  I will get out of there and run for twenty seconds in one direction. If I hear nothing, I’ll come back to this place. That way, little by little, I will check every angle.

  In case of total failure, I will increase the time, first to thirty, then to forty seconds. Well, here we go!

  After the fifth attempt, when I started to worry, I decided to test my strategy by placing a small stone in the center of the source and drawing a circle with another one, showing the borders of the safety zone.

  But everything went well, and I found a second oasis, which appeared to be twice as big. I put a stone there as well and drew another zone circle, after which I kept on testing my tactics.

  It was harder this time because the sound of the larger oxygen oasis silenced all the other sounds. When I moved farther out to forty seconds, I managed to hear the third oasis.

  It was just a meter wide, which was too small. But the strategy was working. I began running from one oasis to another. It took me an hour and made me extremely exhausted, and I had to add another fifty points to the hearing organs.

  Your hearing organs are evolving. Now you have sensory organs of hearing!

  Stats: Structure +1, Mobility +1, Knowledge +1, Complexity +1.

  The effect: “Improved Hearing”

  40 points of experience gained!

  Level up! Current Level: 6.

  For half an hour, I’d been plagued by thoughts of turning back. Why did I need all this? However, I tried to quiet them so they didn’t prevent me from hearing the oxygen hissing from under the ground. I wonder how it got there…

  Meanwhile, I felt something strange, as if there was a current in front of me that I hadn’t heard earlier. I ran in that direction and found myself in a spacious hall before seeing an inspiring message.

  Your lungs are evolving. Now you have small lungs!

  Stats: Structure +1.

  20 points of experience gained!

  A new effect is gained “Oxygen stock”!

  Description: Now your lungs can gather a supply of air that is enough for two minutes of breathing.

  Great! It wasn’t in vain that I had spent hours rushing through this strange area. Looking around, I realized that I was in a large cave. It wasn’t that different from the previous one, the only thing is that it was easier to breathe in here.

  I was scared about staying in the open air and started to move to the wall in short bursts. That way, at least they wouldn’t be able to attack me from all sides, assuming there was anyone there to attack me.

  Reaching the wall, I heard strange sounds coming from the opposite side of the cave. Leaning against the wall’s cool surface, I heard the drone, sounding as if something were shaking behind the wall.

  Hmm… That’s strange. What can it be? How do I get there to check it out? I looked around attentively and spotted strange silhouettes in the distance. They were much bigger than me, even larger than the spikers. Something told me to run as fast as I could but my curiosity took over.

  Chapter 9

  Karataruna. The passage. The trap of the ancient.

  Carefully walking and hiding from one shelter to another, I managed to approach close enough to get a better look at the creatures.

  Long centipedes in black, shining shells were tapping with their massive jaws. They were so sharp it was scary just to look at them. But when one of the centipedes bit into the stone as if it were butter, I became really scared.

  Numerous sharp claws carried their fine bodies, their elongated heads having two large and quite unusual eyes atop them. Vertical pupils in an emerald iris surrounded by dark green eye-whites looked very strange but beautiful.

  These creatures made me feel really strange. On the one hand, they were extremely dangerous, but on the other hand, they were unbelievably beautiful. I wanted to come closer and find out their names and levels, but my plans failed immediately.

  Something strange blinked rapidly in front of me and my body was chopped up into several parts. Before I died, I found out who had killed me.

  Karataruna, The Successor of the Ancients, level 131

  ***

  I wok
e up near my parent’s graves. It was the same as before. Hmm… I had died comparatively easily this time and didn’t feel a thing. But it hurt inside because I had overcome so much to get to that side.

  Sighing deeply, I looked at the map and decided that it was pointless to go back to the centipedes. I was no match for them. Besides, I had no reason to go there, having completely satisfied my curiosity. Well, okay, not completely, but I tried not to think about it, recalling what I had received for my troubles before.

  That’s why I decided to go to the debris to see what it was like and to search for something interesting there. Besides, it was nearer than the other areas I hadn’t been to yet.

  It didn’t take me long to get there and I was soon standing at the site. It was interesting as there was a barricade of stones preventing me from walking farther. But the stones and the passage were large, having many slopes between them where a small bug like me could slide through.

  I searched for the passages that could lead me to the opposite side, never hesitating, knowing I would find them and the stones were too big here. Numerous passages ended in dead ends, and after the ninth one, I started to feel miserable.

  Could I have been mistaken? No, I couldn’t. I could hear the light wind blowing gently upon the stones. Entering another passage, I jumped at once, scared by what I saw there.

  A spiker with huge forelegs was laying there. I watched him for a while before I realized the bug had died long ago. This one was even bigger than the boss of the three that killed Khha.

  Inspecting his shell thoroughly, I came up with an interesting idea. What if I put his shell on mine? But it was never going to happen and I would have to develop my own shell because as soon as I touched the remnants of the bug they turned into ashes apart from a few parts of the forelegs.

  But the thought still gnawed at me, although I modified it slightly. I took the claws of the spiker in my hands and felt a sense of satisfaction, as they didn’t turn into ashes and would serve me as an excellent weapon, like the claws of the two-legged.