Symbiotic: Chapter 14

The air shifted as Sara crossed the threshold. The black tunnel swallowed her, and the moment her foot touched the stone floor inside. Suddenly The cavern ahead glowed faintly, crystalline veins pulsing in the walls before disappearing into blackness ahead. Then the System’s notifications continued to appear, clear and commanding:

*Ping* Congratulations! You are among the first 10,000 Challengers to enter a System Dungeon.

Reward: +1 Free Stat Point.

Sara blinked, half-smiling at the familiar Ping. Another point added to the stack she hadn’t touched. Her Free Stats were piling up like coins in a forgotten purse, but once again, the world around her demanded her focus. “Dang, Future Sara. You’ve GOT to assign those Stat Points!”, she muttered even as her mind had already switched focus to the next announcements as they flew by. Details about the dungeon might be the difference between life and death, and she didn't want to miss a thing.

[System Announcement: Dungeon Entry]

Dungeon Identified: Crystal Caverns

Primary Inhabitants:

- Crystal Crawlers (Swarm predators, shard-armored)

- Greatworms (Burrowing apex, crystal-hardened)

- The Crystal Devourer (Dungeon Boss)

Resource Nodes: Neutral Energy Crystal formations detected.

Collectible: Crystals may be harvested for crafting, alchemy, or Soul resonance. Neutral Energy Crystals are highly sought after in the System Worlds for their ability to be used with any Energy types to enhance crafting results as well as empower abilities.

Dungeon Completion Reward:

- Ownership of Crystal Cavern Mines.

- Authority to grant or deny access to all mining operations.

- Territorial Authority control: No entity may enter the mines without your permission… or your death.

- System tracked Resource collection. The System will track all Crystal collection, allowing the Owner to identify any and all resource gathering that occurs within their territory.

Sara’s eyes scanned the notification with eager attention. So the mine was it’s own Territory smack dab in the middle of the valley she wished to claim as hers. She needed to claim this mine before anyone else did. A System sought after resource. And, if she was right about how powerful a resource, they could prove to be a foundation for Territory capable of growing and protecting its own.

The cavern stretched before her, walls glittering with jagged crystal. In the dim distance, shadows moved between them, faint skittering sounds echoing in the dark. She tightened her grip on her spear and shook her shield into place, robes pulsing faintly with fungal mist.

Her [Danger Sense] hummed low, a warning of movement deeper within. Crawlers. Worms. Something larger waiting in the depths.

She exhaled slowly, steadying herself. The villagers had demanded proof. The System had offered reward. And the Crystal Caverns had opened their jaws to swallow her whole.

"Then let’s see what waits in the dark," she whispered, stepping forward into the glittering maze.

<>

“Wait. Dark. Shit!”, she exclaimed, realizing that the caverns disappeared into pitch black darkness just yards away from where she had entered. Her eyesight was definitely better here in this System than before. She’d been able to see just fine in the dimly light night above. But before her, the dim light turned to a wall of impenetrable blackness.

Looking back, she could see the blank space in the wall that was the doorway back to the valley. “I should go back and ask for a flashlight or torches or something.”, she muttered, face flushing at how embarrassing it would be to crawl back asking for help after her grand declarations. But what choice did she have?

She reached out to the black portal to return through and was met with a System Alert

[You are about to abandon your Dungeon attempt. WARNING: You will not be able to attempt any Dungeons for 24 hours after Abandonment. All Abandoned Dungeon Rewards will be halved upon successful completion. Do you wish to Proceed? Y/N]

“Shit. Blocked for 24 hours. And lose half my rewards? Was it worth it? Would that mean I would only have partial ownership and would have to share the mine with whoever else completed it?”, she pondered her options.

Giving up half the rewards, even not knowing what they would be, was something she didn’t want. But giving up full ownership of the mines, or losing it altogether if someone else swooped in and completed it before she could try again? “No. Not yet. Not before I at least… Try.”

Before doing anything else, she placed her hand on the wall beside the black portal doorway.

*PING* [Regrowth Location 2 of 3 Set: System Dungeon: Crystal Cavern Mines]

Safety measure taken, she took her moment to run through her ritual to verify she had all her gear ready, network primed. She was good to go!

She moved, cautiously, out of the light of the entry way and into the skitter filled darkness. Crouched low and shield up, so quietly slipped forward into the blackness, until she stood in near perfect impenetrable darkness. “Ok. Let’s make miracles, little buddies!”, she muttered near silently as she willed her Mycorrhizal network into action, hoping for some miracle ability that would turn this suicide mission onto a viability.

[Mycorrhizal Ability Unlocked: Sporesight]

Sporesight: You may disperse spores into the environment, linking them into your Mycorrhizal Network. Spores act as sensory nodes, transmitting environmental data back to you. This allows you to perceive movement, terrain, and life signatures within the radius of spread.

Activation Cost: 50 Microbes (minimum) per 10 feet radius.

Note: Microbes used for Sporesight are not consumed but are locked in purpose. They cannot be used for absorption, abilities, or crafting until Fungal Sight is released.

Sara concentrated as she locked 50 microbes into the new ability and froze as the pitch dark Crystal Caverns exploded into ‘view’ around her. She could see everything within 10 feet. Everything. Anything her cloud of spores touched, she knew. Even things behind obstructions. If air could reach it, she could ‘see’ it. She pushed more spores into the ability, but winced as the amount of information she received became overwhelming, and she dialed it back until she felt she could see a ‘safe’ 30 foot distance, but without the splitting migraine punching the back of her eyeballs.

Her wonderful, not so little anymore, network had not just solved her vision problem, it had added a new weapon to her arsenal. It would take some time to adapt to and near how to take advantage of. But there had to be ways to weave her combat abilities with the fact that she could see around corners and behind walls.

[Sporesight Active. 150 microbes locked. Remaining Network 850 (1000) of 1500]

Sara patted here Mycorrhizal Battle Robes lovingly as she muttered one of her favorite movie lines. “As Dr. Ian Malcolm would say… ‘Life… Uh… Finds a way!”

<>

Sara stepped deeper into the Crystal Caverns, the darkness absolute. Her eyes were useless here, the cavern dark with a blackness that swallowed all light. But her spores drifted outward, thirty feet in every direction, clinging to stone, crystal, and air.

Through Sporesight, the world unfolded. She saw without seeing: outlines of jagged crystal spires in a multitude of colors, the uneven cavern floor, the faint shimmer of neutral energy crystals embedded in the walls.

The silence was broken by faint skittering, claws clicking against stone. The sound echoed, distant but unnerving. Her spores touched nothing hostile nearby, only inert crystal. She pressed forward, senses taut.

Then, [Danger Sense] pulsing, she paused and focused her spores more carefully. The formations ahead seemed normal. Clusters of jagged crystal jutting from the tunnel walls and floor. But as her spores brushed them, she felt something wrong. The texture wasn’t inert. It pulsed faintly, resonating with vitality.

Her breath caught. The “crystals” weren’t crystals at all. They were creatures.

The formations shifted, ever so slightly, and her spores revealed the truth: swarms of Crystal Crawlers, perfectly camouflaged until they moved. Individually, they were brittle nuisances. But clustered together, they were something far more dangerous.

The System confirmed her realization:

[Identify Activated]

[Creature Identified: Crystal Crawler Swarm]

Stats (As Swarm) Tier: 2

Body: Force 20 | Speed 32

Mind: Thought 28 | Knowledge 22

Soul: Self 15 | Sum 13

Disposition: Violent, Hostile

Threat Level: Moderate to Deadly (individually weak, collectively dangerous)

Swarm Abilities

• Crystal Camouflage (Passive): When stationary, Crystal Crawlers are nearly indistinguishable from natural crystal formations.

• Resonant Sonic Burst (Active): Swarm emits a focused sonic wave that targets Mental Defense bypassing armor and physical resistance. Can disorient, stun, and cause psychic pain and brain death.

• Shard Skitter (Passive): High Speed allows swarms to scatter and regroup quickly, making them difficult to pin down.

• Swarm Coordination (Passive): Crawlers share sensory input; harming one alerts the entire swarm. The larger the Swarm, the more powerful their attacks grow.

• Crystal Consumption (Passive): Feeding on neutral energy crystals increases their durability and sonic resonance, making them harder to kill if left unchecked.

Crystal Crawlers are shard-armored insectoids that feed on cavern crystals. Alone, they are fragile pests. But when gathered in swarms, they resonate their crystalline bodies together, producing devastating sonic attacks that bypass physical defenses and strike directly at the mind. Crystal Crawlers are a bane to any Crystal mining operation and, if left unchecked, can grow into a Swarm Beast Wave, not only permanently destroying the crystal deposits, but anything else in their wake once their crystal diet is exhausted.

<>

Sara’s spores drifted through the cavern, brushing against the jagged crystal formations. Her spear felt useless here, her bat laughable against a tide of shard-armored insects. For a heartbeat she thought of Charlotte’s bug zapper tower at the lake cabin. How simple it would be to fry them all at once.

But she wasn’t helpless. Her network pulsed, alive with possibility. She pressed her will into it, focusing on her need. She could use the spore cloud to see. She could Infect spores into her Infected Strike spear attacks. Can she combine the two somehow? Learn to Infect things through her cloud? She presses her desire deep into her network, and is, again, rewarded.

[Mycorrhizal Ability Unlocked: Infested Cloud Strike]

Her spores thickened, shifting from passive sensors into potential weapons. She focused on the nearest “crystal formation,” and the swarm revealed itself at her touch as dozens of Crystal Crawlers vibrated in resonance. The vibrations built on each other, shaking her bones and hammering directly into her mind.

She willed her spores to dig.

[Infested Cloud Strike] Cost 150 Microbes

[Remaining Network 700 (850) of 1500]

The cloud surged, spores latching onto every crawler in the Swarm at once. They burrowed into shard-carapaces, crawling around hardened crystal shells, spreading through the soft tissue beneath. The swarm shrieked in unison, a chorus of sonic resonance turned to chaos.

Sara grinned. The System counted the swarm as one target. One strike, one infestation, all crawlers at once. Relief flooded her. If she had to spend 150 microbes per insect, she’d be drained before killing even half of a single swarm. But this… this was efficient.

The swarm convulsed, collapsing into shards and husks, the sonic hum fading into silence. Her spores withdrew, returning to passive sight.

“Wow”, Sara whistled softly, seeing the carnage pile of dozens of twitching insect carapaces falling still. “I guess Death finds a way sometimes too!”

Sara exhaled, a laugh threatening to burst free. "Expensive… but worth every microbe."

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Crystal Crawler Swarm (T2).]

300 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (1501) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 412.13 of 500]

All that was left to do was to feed her lovely Mycorrhizal friends and move onward towards her reward.

*Ping* [150 Microbes gained. Current Network: 850 (1000) of 1500]

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Crystal Crawler Swarm (T2)]

(T2) Crystal Crawler Swarm 1 of 5 absorbed.

Effect: Stat growth stored to be triggered during Regrowth.

Note: Stat increases limited to 5 samples per biological source.

Condition: Growth only occurs if source stat exceeds host stat.]

<>

“Well that is certainly efficient. Gained back exactly what I spent. So as long as I play it smart, and don’t let myself get… swarmed… I should be able to race through these buggers!” Sara chuckled. “But no Crystals dropped. I guess that makes sense, since Crystals are what they are eating.”

“I bet these Crystal Crawler Swarms are a real pain in the ass for someone who just swings a big sword. Or shoots a bow. But me, and any Mages out there… This is too easy!”

<>

The cavern stretched downward in jagged layers, each step echoing faintly in the pitch black. Sara’s Sporesight flowed outward, thirty feet of spores brushing against stone and crystal alike. Every time her spores touched formations, she could tell instantly whether they were inert crystal or living swarm.

One pile at a time, she advanced. Crawlers shrieked as her [Infested Cloud Strike] ripped through them, their shard-armored bodies collapsing into dust and fragments. The sonic resonance faded after each battle, leaving silence in its wake. She pressed forward, deeper into the dungeon’s glittering maze.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Crystal Crawler Swarm (T2) x9]

2700 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (1501) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 413.93 of 500]

All that was left to do then was the cleanup, and to get across the, hopefully now empty, waters before something even deadlier took over.

And she couldn’t complain about her microbe expenditures.

[Infested Cloud Strike] Cost 150 Microbes

*Ping* [150 Microbes gained. Current Network: 1000 of 1500]

And, as always, her network fed on the fallen to grow stronger.

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Crystal Crawler Swarm (T2)]

(T2) Crystal Crawler Swarm 2-5 of 5 absorbed.

Effect: Stat growth stored to be triggered during Regrowth.

Note: Stat increases limited to 5 samples per biological source.

ERROR: NO ADDATIONAL STAT GROWTH CAN BE GAINED FROM CRYSTAL CRAWLERS

Condition: Growth only occurs if source stat exceeds host stat.]

A few times during her decent deeper into the dungeon her spores brushed something different. Not hostile, not alive, but radiant. Three nodes of crystal hummed faintly, neutral energy flowing through their veins. She knelt, pressing her hand against the nearest formation. The System chimed:

[Resource Node Harvested x3]

Medium Neutral Crystal x3

Resource Node? So maybe Crystals grew back and could be harvested more than once? Nice!

The crystals shimmered as they vanished into her Pocket Storage, their faint hum lingering in her mind. Neutral energy. The System claimed them as a much sought after resource. versatile, unaligned, perfect for alchemy, crafting, or empowerment. Hopefully they would prove to be as valuable as they appeared to be and would allow her to protect the Haven Valley Territory once she claimed it.

Sara exhaled, satisfaction warming her chest. The dungeon was dangerous, yes, but it was also rich. Every swarm defeated, every crystal harvested, was proof she was carving her way toward ownership.

The deeper she went, the more the cavern seemed alive, crawling, resonating, waiting. Somewhere ahead, the Greatworms burrowed, and beyond them, the Crystal Devourer. But for now, she had her weapons, her spores, and her resolve.

"Step by step. This mine will be... Um... Mine!"

"Dammit!"

<>