Symbiotic: Chapter 3

Sara limped forward, each step a reminder of the Mauler’s bite tearing at her leg. The silver-threaded bat doubled as a cane, its weight steadying her as she pushed deeper into the jungle. Retreat wasn’t an option. Behind her lay only blood and broken branches. Ahead, perhaps, shelter.

The jungle offered no mercy. Twice more, Monkey Maulers burst from the shadows, their shrieks echoing through the trees. The first came low, claws flashing, but Sara braced herself and swung her bat in a brutal arc.

[Power Swing Activated]

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Monkey Mauler.

100 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (334) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 1.8 of 250]

*Ping* [50 Microbes gained.

Current Network: 283 of 333]

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Monkey Mauler

Error: NO MORE STAT GROWTH MAY BE GAINED FROM MONKEY MAULER SAMPLES]

The second was faster, darting from branch to branch before lunging. Sara’s wound slowed her, but desperation sharpened her reflexes. She pivoted, letting the beast’s momentum carry it into her strike. The bat connected with a sickening crack, fungal fibers humming with impact.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Monkey Mauler.

100 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (334) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 2.1 of 250]

*Ping* [50 Microbes gained.

Current Network: 333 of 333]

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Monkey Mauler

Error: NO MORE STAT GROWTH MAY BE GAINED FROM MONKEY MAULER SAMPLES]

Breath ragged, she pressed on. The jungle thinned, and at last she spotted a dark hollow in the rock… a cave. Relief surged, but caution held her back. She limbed her way closer, squinting into the gloom.

At first, it looked like nothing more than a pile of driftwood and tangled vines, heaped in the cave’s mouth. But the longer she stared, the less natural it seemed.

Her grip tightened on the bat as the “pile” shifted.

Something was alive in there.

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Sara froze at the cave’s mouth, staring at what looked like a heap of driftwood and tangled vines as the pile began to move.

Her heart lurched. She forced her eyes to focus, the system answering her call.

[Identify Activated]

[Jungle Cat]

Body: (Force 12 | Speed 18)

Mind: (Thought 10 | Knowledge 8)

Soul: (Self 14 | Sum 8)

The shape resolved into something feline, its body woven from jungle limbs and vines, eyes burning with feral anger. A predator born of the forest itself.

The Jungle Cat lunged, faster than anything she had faced. Sara barely raised her bat in time, the silver-threaded weapon humming as it absorbed the impact. She swung, but the beast twisted, claws raking across her shoulder. Pain flared, but she held her ground.

She leaned into her newfound Two Handed Weapon skill, trying to find a way past the cat’s defenses, but with every missed swing, a new bloodied claw met her weakening body.

It was too early. She hadn’t rested. Hadn’t gotten her Soul back. Didn’t have time to worry about what happened when a stat reached zero. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she was sure it would be? She inhaled, summoning everything she had left, and Swung.

[Power Swing Activated]

The bat carved a brutal arc, smashing into the Jungle Cat’s side, crushing everything in its path. The impact reverberated through the cave, fungal fibers vibrating as the creature collapsed in a heap of broken vines.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Jungle Cat.

150 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (334) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 2.55 of 250]

But the victory came at a terrible cost. Sara felt her Soul Self drain, the system’s warning flashing in her vision.

[Soul Self: 0. Critical Condition: Termination Imminent]

The world dimmed around her, edges blurring. She staggered, blood dripping from her wounds, and slapped her hand against the cave wall.

Spores spread instantly, silver threads weaving into the stone.

[Regrowth Point Established]

Her body gave way, collapsing as darkness swallowed her. She wasn’t sure if unconsciousness was mercy or curse. Whether dying here meant relief or another painful rebirth.

The cave was hers now, marked by spores. Safe, at least for the moment. But as her vision faded, Sara wondered if Regrowth was truly salvation… or just another cycle of suffering.

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“So”, Sara thought to herself as she regained consciousness in her now uninjured and naked body. “That answers that question. ANY Stat reaching zero is death, not just Body. Noted.”

She sat up to take in her surroundings. Thankfully, the cave was still empty of everything but her naked self and the corpse of the Jungle Cat. Regrowth had worked, and the questionable safety of the cave was hers.

Speaking of Regrowth, she thought to herself. What’d I miss? She focused inward even as she reached for her mangled almost beyond recognition clothing in its pile of dust. Dust that was all that was left of herself? Former self? She mulled as she brought up the notifications she had missed, beginning with the kill itself.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Jungle Cat.

150 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (334) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 2.55 of 250]

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Jungle Cat

Jungle Cat Sample 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.]

“Wait. Effect: Stat growth stored to be triggered during Regrowth. That means I should have gotten something from the four stored Monkey Maulers? STATS!”, she hollered, probably far too loudly for her situation. But she had to see!

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Name: Sara Bloom

Race: Mycorrhizal

Affiliation: Mycorrhizal Network

Max Network Size: 666

Current Network Size: 83

[Level: 1 Base Stat Assignment:

Body: 6 (Force = 6 | Speed = 6)

Mind: 6 (Thought = 6 | Knowledge = 6)

Soul: 6 (Self = 6 | Sum = 6)]

“YES!”, she yelled as she thrust her fist into the air in celebration. “Still only halfway to ‘Average’, but a hell of a lot better than all Ones! And wait… Max Network size 666? IT doubled? Why? How? I mean Damn that’s great… But Why? Is it based on Body? Mind? Soul? My money is on Soul Self. But time will tell.”

She slung herself into her dirty torn clothing and moved over to the Jungle Cat Body. “It was worth more exp, so does that mean…” She pressed her hand to the corpse and, as it turned to dust and disappeared, leaving behind a small green crystal, the notification appeared.

*Ping* [75 Microbes gained. Current Network: 158 of 666]

Her brain quickly calculated the results. Apparently, she could gain half as many Microbes per body as they gave in Experience. Luckily BEFORE splitting for party size. Which had just become 667?!?! Shit!

“At this rate I’ll get level two at the ripe old age of 104!”, she groaned.

With a long, dramatic, sigh she returned to focusing on her new and vastly improved status. “Stats 6’s. Network max doubled. Enemy creatures growing more powerful. Any new Skills or Abilities?”, she tried a handful of prompts, but all she was able to get for skill and ability information was what she already knew. Either she hadn’t gained anything, or she could only find it out by stumbling on it like she had every time thus far.

Shrugging, she ran her hands along the back wall of the cave to make sure she had spores stored for Regrowth, and jumped at the unexpected notification.

*Ping* Regrowth Location 1 of 2: Cave #284,379

“Wow. Two save points now. And double wow… That’s a LOT of caves? Just how BIG is this tutorial?”

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