{The day after defeating the Runt Ant}
Jono awoke feeling gross and feeble. He didn’t get up.
“Morning System, please confirm health status,” Jono asked, worried at how quickly he had become used to this.
[Health 35/60. You are poisoned from eating strange moss in a dungeon] Eckvalonge support notifications
Great, Jono thought.
“What am I supposed to do now?” Jono said, feeling exhausted.
[Morning Jono, please wait, staying in contact with the water for another hour. We should be able to deal with the poisoning once Kaire has recuperated] Guardian Analysis
“Should be able to?” Jono asked.
[That is correct. For your understanding, imagine we are like pixies that live in your head] Analysis
[Hey, I ain’t no pixie] Guardian Agent
[For guardians, imagine the inside of your head is something like a control centre in one of those shows where a group of children find a robot and must learn to work with it to defeat the forces of evil] Analysis
[What, were not kids either] Agent
[There were five of us till now and with Kaire there is now six. Her arrival has created another area of your head that we can work in. Unfortunately, it has been locked down while she is recovering and we don’t even know the full range of resources that she has access to] Analysis
“Well, it’s not like I was going anywhere anyway,” Jono complained.
[Actually getting back to how we were talking about helping with a plan. Once recovered, you should be able to augment your stealth to safely explore the tunnels. Most of the tunnel creatures appear to be of a low level] Analysis
“Wait, that ant monster was low level,” Jono said shocked. “But that thing was terrifying.”
[You wanna see terrifying?] Judas
[Guardian Judas has equipped light] Eckvalonge Support Notifications
[What? He’s ejected, this is bad] Agent
Jono felt something whoosh by his face and assumed it was Judas, who hadn’t activated light yet.
[Thanks Analysis, that gap was just where you said it would be] Judas said
They waited a moment in silence.
[Um, is anyone else going to worry about what to do about Judas?] Agent
[I don’t think that there is much that can be done. For now, Jono should get back to sleep and we should continue repairs] Analysis
Jono actually managed to drift into a strange, fitful sleep for a while.
***
A couple of hours later, Jono awoke abruptly. He had a strange nightmare that involved holding onto a stampeding ant that was charging through tunnels, over waterfalls, through fields and up a seemingly never-ending staircase made in the same style as those in Adelia’s mansion.
Waking in a cold sweat would have been Jono’s normal response to a nightmare. However, he was already half in cold water. That alone should have given him a cold in this damp, chilly dungeon. But like many strange things in this world, it was what was helping him recover.
It took several moments for him to calm and his breathing to return to normal. He went through his new wake-up routine.
“Hello System, please confirm health status,” Jono asked.
[Health 35/60
Your hero status is not functional and you are not auto-recovering] ESN
Drat, Jono thought.
[Ah good, you’re awake again] Kaire
Oh hi, have you made any progress? Jono thought.
[We have actually. First for the good news, as long as you eat you and have contact with the water here, you will be able to recover health after the moss poisoning. The bad news is, we need you to shuffle around the pool and pick up another handful of the moss for us] Kaire
Are you sure? Jono thought.
[Absolutely, please get a handful when you are ready] Kaire
Jono awkwardly shuffled around the pond and stretched out to scoop up another handful of moss. How’s this?
[Excellent, now with the upgrades I got, we’ve jerry-rigged together an ability for you.
Please say ‘convert to manna’] Kaire
“Um, okay,” Jono said aloud. “Convert mana.”
[Huh, what do you know, that was close enough] Agent
The moss in his hands glowed as the ability activated. It then radiated with golden sparkles. The moss turned into seed in Jono’s hand. “And I can eat this?” Jono asked.
[That’s right, try a little] Kaire
“Okay,” Jono tasted a sample from the seed in his hands. “Huh, it’s quite sweet,” he said.
“Wait, is this manna, as in the sweet seed that looked like coriander and fed people wandering in the desert?” Jono asked aloud in surprise.
[Yes, it seems so. Please finish that handful for now] Analysis
Jono started eating the seed. Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside the igloo. Jono turned to glimpse a log size mass of scales bent and shot away from the igloo. Then the top of the igloo was struck.
[Right, you want to see terrifying Jono?] Judas
“What’s going on?” Jono called out to Judas.
[Take a look at this. Light level one] Judas
As part of the area outside was lit up, Jono was terrified to see a huge bronze serpent outside the igloo. The creature was temporarily blinded. When the creature recovered, it focused its black, beady eyes on Judas, who was now flying just out of reach.
Jono had heard about the idea of something emitting a killing intent, but this was the first time he had felt it. The creature’s focus bored into the irritating shiny snack just out of its reach. Trying to describe the creature’s vibe or the feeling was insufficient.
The whole area around it was filled with a hatred that went beyond coldness. Jono found the intensity of the feeling coming from the creature to be vertigo-inducing. In that moment and in that space, the only thing that mattered was killing.
Judas shot down towards the igloo.
The serpent’s head flicked forward and the neck uncoiled in the blink of an eye. Somehow, Judas just managed to avoid the serpent and it snapped at empty air just behind him. It smoothly reared up again and looked at the igloo its prey that had escaped into. As it looked, the serpents killing intent waned, probably in surprise as it noticed Jono inside as well.
It looked between Jono and the little glowing Judas for a moment.
[There you go, how’s that for terrifying? And that’s only one of the smaller monsters from this level. It’s probably about level forty-eight. There are stronger monsters on this level, but that was the best I could get to chase me all the way back here.] Judas
The serpent swung around and its tail smashed into the amber igloo. Fine cracks appeared around where the tail had smashed it. It spun another couple, of times smashing the igloo and adding to the cracks covering the amber.
It stopped and stared intently at the morsels in the igloo.
“What, I don’t think that snakes should be able to do that!” Jono exclaimed, almost whispering to Judas besides him. “Um, is the igloo going to hold up to more of those tail attacks?”
“That is one of the points this helps make; the creatures around here aren’t always going to behave the same as similar smaller creatures in your world,” Judas yelled, with a strange little chipmunk pitch.
The stare off continued.
[The serpent’s vitals reveal that it is relaxing; it may be getting bored. Stay calm. Even if it decided to break through it would probably take an hour for it to do so with the amber sapping its energy] Analysis
The snake circled outside another couple of times, then wiggled away with its body flowing in a rhythmic wave motion.
[YOU IDIOT, WHAT WAS THAT FOR. It could have decided to bust through and eat us all!] Agent
[How’s Jono now? Did he get used to having the snake around?] Judas
[Huh, ah… yes, I guess he did. Well, a little anyway. How could you be sure it wouldn’t go wrong with the snake deciding to smash through to eat us?] Agent
[I couldn’t, but if he doesn’t learn to be calm around monsters quickly, we’ll definitely be eaten] Judas
Agent mumbled but said nothing further.
[Ah sorry guys, I was out of it when you were planning. Did you say that you had a plan to explore the tunnels?] Kaire
[Well we have half of one, with stealth, we might have a slim chance of getting through the tunnels and up to the next level. I put an enquiry through the Eckvalonge System and there is a tale of a guy that made it up several levels with some sort of ant disguise] Analysis
“That sounds great, so what do I do?” Jono asked.
[Chop the ant’s head off] Guardian Loon
“What, how do I do that?” Jono said
[It should be possible to melt through the joint of a sharp lower leg section with amber just. Then you can use the leg to hack the head off. But you will have to wait another day and for another meal of manna before you will have recovered enough to try it] Analysis
Jono half-heartedly stabbed at the neck. Surprisingly, the sharp leg did a good job at cutting through the neck fibres not protected by the carapace. Then he hollowed out the head, throwing the brains and other grossness out of the igloo.
With that done he cleaned the head in the pool. Then Jono had no choice but to wait another day.
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