Symbiotic: Chapter 8

[Quest Timer: 13:22 Remaining]

“Thirteen and a half minutes? Not that I’m complaining, but should something else have attacked at 15 minute mark? Unless, maybe big boy here was a ‘Boss’ and so the last two timers are 10 minute timers? If so, I find myself less and less excited to see what shows up next!”, Sara Pondered to herself.

Looking around, Sara realized her entry blockade tactic was done for, as the majority of the bodies had been thrown outside of the cave entrance and she was not willing to step outside the cave and risk failing the Quest at the last minute. So she raced over and slapped her hand on each of the corpses still within the cavern. Two Rock Constrictors and a Jungle Cat.

[Microbes Absorbed: +275. Remaining Network: 491 of 1000]

Next was to get rid of the disturbing amount of Experience notifications clogging up the edge of her System display like a 1990’s computer virus.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Rock Constrictor x8]

[Your party has killed a Jungle Cat x7]

[Your party has killed a Monkey Mauler x6]

[Your party has killed a Mountain Bear x1]

3650 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (1001) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 9.6 of 250]

Then, with under a minute remaining, she once again had to hold off on collecting any of the dozens of crystals that are around the ground somewhere. It was time to prepare for whatever the System had planned to follow up the Mountain Bear with.

[Quest Timer: 10:41 Remaining]

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As the timer ticked down to the ten minute mark, Sara Stood at the entrance, ready do defend HER cave. She had killed, and nearly died, to complete this Quest, and she’d be damned if she would fail now. She had made the most of her luxurious three and a half minutes of relaxation and now, hopping from foot to foot, she was ready. More ready than she had ever been. Nothing would come between her and her Safety Token.

The timer hit 10:00 remaining and she stared out of the entrance to see what she would face next. She was so focused of Identifying her next foe as quickly as possible, that it was only the sudden burst of Danger Sense that saved her, as an attack came at her not from outside the cave, but from the floor of the cave behind her.

[Danger Sense] [Effect: Provides early warning of ambushes, hidden predators, or in some cases environmental dangers.]

Only a last second decision to drop low and kick herself backwards into the cave behind her saved her from being shoved out of the cave and failing the Quest as, from the rock floor of the cave dog sized creatures launched themselves at her back, raking claws across her shoulder. They looked like termites, if termites were the size of Dobermans and had slavering jaws filled with magma.

[Identify Activated]

[Magmites x10]

Body: Force 22 | Speed 24

Mind: Thought 23 | Knowledge 18

Soul: Self 19 | Sum 21

Skills:

Heat Sense (Passive) - Detects and pursues sources of heat, natural or biological.

Magma Bite - Crushing bite that deals Fire damage over time and can eat through rock or metal if left unchecked.

Even as Sara rolled to her feet and returned bites and slashes with stabs of her own, the Magmites continued to climb out of the hole in the floor they had eaten their way through so silently she hadn’t noticed until it was a fraction of a second from too late. One, two, five, ten… The seemingly endless stream finally stopped at ten, and Sara did her best to carefully hop around them all as she struck out at their bulbous middles.

But even as Sara cheered internally as she stabbed into one body and then another, she realized that her spear tip had turned to orange and was burning away. Not only were these Magmites’ bites magma hot, but apparently their blood was as well.

With a roar, she threw her melting spear into the shoulder of another Magmite, then tossed her shield to slow a second one moving to flank her as she dived for her trusty bat. Stabbing was out of the picture, though it had managed to kill two of them and wound another. Hopefully a little Softball Shuffle would serve her better. She stepped forward and smacked the slowed Magmite with a low swung Power Strike, and laughed as the head ripped clean off, showering the bugs behind it with molten hot blood.

[Power Swing Activated] [Temporary loss of -1 Body Force for 5 minutes]

Sadly, though it was great to feel the raw power of her Power Swing again, the shower of magma blood seemed to do nothing to the wave of Magmites scrambling towards her from all directions. But then the coordinated frontal assault seemed to flounder as the Magmites bumped into each and climbed over each other as if the entire cave of Magmites had gone momentarily blind. If so, I find myself less and less excited to see what shows up next!”, Sara Pondered to herself

“The heat!”, Sara thought to herself. “They use heat for vision and now there’s magma blood everywhere. But it won’t stay hot for long. Time to add fuel to the fire. Top of the 9th. Bases Loaded!”

Sara moved from one Magmite to the next, smashing them with wide swings and spreading their burning blood far and wide.

[Power Swing Activated x9] [Temporary loss of -9 Body Force for 5 minutes]

Minutes later she stood, large patches of her robe burnt away and areas of skin aflame, shoulders heaving with Power Swing induced exhaustion, but the Magmites were destroyed. The cave was hers.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Magmite x10]

1500 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (1001) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 11.1 of 250]

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[Quest Timer: 0:03. 0:02. 0:01]

[Congratulations Team Mycorrhizal Network. You have successfully completed your Quest: Hold the Line. 100 experience to all participants.

Territory Authority Token Reward granted to highest Contributing Member: Sara Bloom.

For being the first Party to compete a Territory Defense Quest, 100 experience to all participants.

For being the first Party to complete a System Quest, 100 experience to all participants.

Current Experience to next level: 311.1 of 250]

*DING* LEVEL 2!!!

Dimensional Pocket Gained

[Dimensional Pocket] A Dimensional Pocket that can store up to 10 cubic feet of equipment.

5 Free Stat Points gained Please assign your Free Stat Points

Current Experience to next level: 311.1 of 500]

“YES!”, Sara screamed, fists pumping in the air. “Level Fracking Two!”, she celebrated, stopping only as the pain of her burning skin stopped her.

[Ability Activated: Repair Self] Wounds Restored.

[Cost: 50 Microbes. Remaining Network 441 of 1000]

“Ok. First, I need to replace my Spear, then get rid of these bodies and see if we can find all those crystals.”, she said as she focused inward and summoned her Spear.

[Create Advanced Object Activated] Item Created: Mycorrhizal Spear. Effect: Body (Force +1 | Speed +1)

[Cost: 200 Microbes. Remaining Network 241 of 1000]

She quickly then ran around and absorbed the Magmite bodies.

*Ping* [Compatible Biological Sample Detected: Magmite]

Magmite Sample 1-5 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.]

[Microbes Absorbed: +750. Remaining Network: 991 of 1000]

[Crystal Acquired: Small Red Crystal x10]

And then the Easter Egg Hunt for Crystals began. It took her quite some time, a lot of it spend on hands and knees sorting through cracked shale and far too much goopy multi-colored ‘blood’, but at the end of the search she had wrestled up another 6 small brown crystals and 4 small green crystals. She knew she’d missed some, but after an hour spent searching, and still having No clue what they were good for in the first place, she called it quits and tallied up her totals,

Items Collected:

1. Small Brown Crystals: 13
2. Small Green Crystals: 16
3. Small Red Crystals: 10
4. Medium Brown Crystals: 1

She tossed them all into pockets in her robe, thankful once again for how her fungal friends took care of her as the burnt and torn battle robe was already knitting itself back together in webs of silver thread. She made a mental note to look into this new Dimensional Pocket, but at the moment, there was something much much more important to consider.

She held the [Territory Authority Token] in her hand and focused her Identify on it.

[Identify Activated]

[Territory Authority Token Identified]

Function: Grants the bearer control over a Territory.

Use: Select a location to establish Territory.

Effects:

- Territory becomes bound to the bearer, who becomes the permanent Owner of the Territory.

- Provides settlement defensive bonuses and resource generation.

- Unlocks Territory Menu (Structures, Defenses, Resource Flow).

- Territory recognized by System as "Safe Zone" for bearer and allies.

Limitations:

- Token may only be used once.

- Territory is fixed to chosen location.

- Territory cannot be moved once established.

- Additional Tokens required to expand or claim new Territories.

Recommendation: Choose carefully. Territories are permanent anchors of power.

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“And there’s the rub. Ok. It can only be used once. Territory cannot be changed once used. But there will be a chance for more Tokens to expand or add new Territory. Ok. So then…”, she sighed as she ran through her options.

“I’m tired and part of me wants to use it here and now to make this cave ‘safe’, whatever safe means to this Tutorial. Wait. Shouldn’t I be hungry and thirsty by now? It’s been a whole day of running and fighting and adrenaline. I should be starving, but I feel… Full?” Sara began to ponder cause and effect before snapping herself out of it. “Focus, Sara. More important things to focus on. Until proven otherwise, let us just assume that feeding the network feeds me, as I’m part of the network.”

“Now. Yes, part of me wants to use the Token now. But that would probably be the wrong choice. It specifically references structures and resources. Maybe it just poofs structures into existence. But I’m betting that if I use it where there are already structures, then I’ll get more bang for my buck. Or more toot for my Token?”

She nods and smacks her knee. “Ok. We wait and see if we find a better spot. If not, there are a hundred thousand other caves out there.” She stood and looked around. She needed to rest, but without using the Token, was this cave, with its Magmite dug floor and Bear widened entry even safe anymore? Sara remembered reading about how adventurers would often climb a tall tree and tie themselves to its branches.

“Let’s see what else is out there. With any luck, those waves of creatures cleared out the area. But best to play it safe.” She looked down at her robes, which were still doing their best to reform the lava burned holes. “You’ve served me well, my friends. But maybe it’s time to see about a little more protection?”

She began to take the robes off but paused at a thought. She used network microbes to make the robe. Could the network regain them? Some of them? Or were they lost once used? Focusing on the robes, she placed a hand on her chest and imagined feeding the robes to the network like she did the corpses, and grinned as the robes seemed to almost liquify and flow into her hand. The grin faded to a frown as the sound of many falling crystals clinked against the stone floor as her robe pockets disintegrated and her collected crystals bounced across the floor. “Well… Shit!”

[Microbes Absorbed: +9. Remaining Network: 1000 of 1000]

“And, Double Shit!”

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