This was going to take forever.

Lukas wasn't just saying that. No, he had actually analyzed the situation and realized that leveling up by killing moss would literally take forever.

Leveling up seemed to require what the screen termed as ‘Experience’. And so far, the only way it rewarded him with any was through the killing of ‘prey’— something that Lukas hoped didn’t refer to every living organism he came across.

So far, the only prey was moss, aside from the bat-creature. Lukas refused to think of that… thing as prey, so maybe moss wasn’t so bad after all. It didn’t have teeth, it didn’t try to suck your blood, and killing it was relatively easy. In fact, if killing moss gave more experience, it would have been the perfect ‘prey’.

Once he killed enough of them, the accumulated experience triggered the Level Up phenomenon, something that increased his Soul Capacity.

The screen had mentioned earlier that Soul Capacity was used to learn Skills. From what he understood, a Skill was kind of like a file on the computer called Soulscape, and the Soul Capacity was its hard drive— the space where he could store Skills.

Unfortunately, Lukas still hadn’t figured out how to learn a Skill, something that the screen was being predictably unhelpful with.

And most importantly, he had yet to figure out what an Anomaly was. Every time he questioned the screen on that topic, he was fed a weird circle of non-answers that got him nowhere. The only thing that he could take away was that this place, the Crypt of Fiendish Worms, was an anomaly, and it produced monsters.

Worms. Fiendish worms. Fiendish monster-worms. Whatever.

Regardless, there was pretty much one thing he could do at the moment.

Smack!

He could either wait for something in this hellhole to kill him, or he could figure out this system and pray something would change.

The issue now was that this potential change was taking far too long. He had been hitting moss for hours, but was still stuck at level 2. Judging from every level’s Threshold, this would only get worse. For Level 2, he needed 20 points. And now, to reach Level 3, he apparently needed to earn four times that amount.

And while the requirements to level up scaled… the points he got killing moss did not.

Gaining experience at Level 1 was already difficult. Roughly 130 pieces of moss netted him a single point, and it had taken him over five hours of ‘moss smacking’ to get all the way to Level 2. 

For Level 3? It would take days. 

Clearly, whoever designed this system had not intended to make it easy for him. At all.

For example, the system’s Scan function boasted a range of roughly eight feet. So while it would inform him about attackers trying to sneak up from behind, it was fairly useless when it came to monsters attacking head-on.

The Analyze function was a little more useful. It helped identify potential prey and predator), and also revealed information about whatever organism he encountered, whether it was luminescent moss, tiny insects, or the bat-creature.

Lukas suppressed a violent shudder.

Judging from his sleep cycles, he had spent roughly three days wandering around this so-called crypt. For such a short amount of time, he had deduced a substantial amount of information about his predicament, if he did say so himself.

“Hah!” he moaned, languidly stretching his legs after a long day of exploration. The tiny campfire burning next to him provided a homely warmth, relaxing enough to make his eyes droop. It almost made him forget where he was.

The human ability to adapt was scary.

For the first two days, he hadn’t been able to stray too far, both from a lack of proper lighting and a fear of getting lost in a veritable maze of tunnels.

Surprisingly enough, he had turned to moss as his saviour. Not only was the flora flammable, allowing him to create small campfires along his paths, but he had also begun to leave carvings and indications on the moss-covered walls to make sure he didn’t lose his way.

Of course, a scant few hours later, he found newly grown moss covering all the prior marks he made. It was almost fascinating how quickly his newfound love for moss had turned into utter disgust.

In the end, he managed to discover a tiny lake inside the cavern, and had since been using it as his base of operations. Where there was water, there would be animals coming to drink.

Or prey, as the screen liked to call them.

His fingers clenched around his trusty piece of jagged rock. It was a broken shard he’d found on the floor earlier, one that appeared to have fallen off the cavern walls. Not too sharp, but good enough to score a few deep cuts with. 

Even the simplest of knives would have been far superior, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Not for the first time, he missed the warm and cozy bed back at home. The moss on the walls provided some cushioning but it was nothing compared to a real bed. It was nearly time for Lukas to get some shut-eye, but there was one last thing he needed to do.

“Scan for prey.”

 

“Analyze prey.”

 

As expected. Lukas yawned. “Right. Keep scanning, will you? Alert me if you find something other than moss.” 

 

“Thanks.” He yawned again. He had already started treating the screen like a person. At the very least, it felt good to think of it like that. While not exactly… comforting, the screen's sarcastic quips had helped bring a semblance of normalcy and companionship to the insanity that was this cave.

Lukas closed his eyes and settled into a comfortable position. A good night’s sleep, and he’d be ready to tackle the new da— 

 

Not again.

Sighing, Lukas stood up once more, raising his makeshift weapon and settling into a crouched, defensive stance.

He had gotten used to dealing with prey over the last two days. Although he was yet to kill another creature, he had managed to drive off a couple of small squirrel-like things that assaulted him.

Whatever it was, he could probably deal with it.

 

---

Sometime later...

“Oh God, I can’t deal with this!” Lukas groaned as he relentlessly tried to pull his left hand out of the vicious thing that had plastered itself onto his arm. It was a black, gelatinous substance that seemed to meld into the very wall itself, effectively gluing his arm to the cavern walls.

The more he pulled, the more it constricted.

Initially, it was merely uncomfortable. But now?

It hurt. Badly.

“Damnit! Get off me!” he snarled, trying to scrape off the black slime that was doing its best to pulverize his arm.

It didn’t work.

“Screen! Analyze!”

 

“Fluid? Since when are worms fluid?” Lukas spewed indignantly, picking up his makeshift rock-knife and scraping at his arm. The slime shifted slightly at the point of contact, but, apart from that, ignored him completely.

The brute force approach was a bust, and the constriction was only getting worse by the second.

You know what? Fuck this.

Lukas picked up one of the still-burning tendrils of moss from the campfire and pushed it against the slimy layer.

This time, it reacted. Angrily.

It began to twist and turn and press into his arm even harder. Cursing, Lukas dropped the burning tendril and turned to his only remaining hope.

“Any ideas, screen?”

 

“Fuck you!” Lukas howled. He could hear the bones in his arms groan against the increasing pressure. “If I knew how to kill it, I wouldn’t be asking you. Fine, I’ll phrase it perfectly. Tell me how to kill it.”

“...”

At this point, Lukas was beginning to hate the screen even more than the slime that was literally crushing him.

Picking up the rock-dagger, he looked at the black slime, then back at his arm. 

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Lukas gritted his teeth and swung down. Hard. It wasn’t a gentle scrape, but a swing with enough force to shatter his arm.

…

There was no pain. Curiously, Lukas observed the slime once more.

The surface of the rubbery layer had been shredded, proof that blows on such a level were probably able to penetrate through its thick membrane. The downside was that the skin on his wrists had begun to feel the impact too.

Then again, the slime-thing— he refused to call it a worm —would snap his arm off anyway, so he didn’t really have much to lose here.

Owww!

A searing pain spread across his hand. At first, he thought it was from the rock cutting into his fist, but the fact that it was his palm that was burning led him to a far worse conclusion.

The slime was secreting something corrosive.

Was it… was it trying to digest him?

“Damnit!” Lukas cursed, bringing the rock down again.

And again.

And again.

It hurt like hell, but anything was better than being eaten alive by this abomination.

Slowly, the pain in his arm began to fade. And yet, it only made him more anxious. Perhaps it was secreting an anesthetic like the bat-creature?

Lukas lifted his rock-knife and began swinging at his arm with reckless abandon.

He swung and swung and swung.

And then, something shifted within him.

A peculiar heat that burned hotter and hotter, like the most intense adrenaline rush combined with an almost physically uplifting feeling of being stronger.

It was euphoric.

The rock swung down again, faster than ever before. Rock met glove, and neither side remained unscathed.

The rock shattered.

The glove tore.

And Lukas used the moment to pull himself away from the wall.

The black slime fell down into a puddle, innocently rippling in place, like it hadn’t just tried to eat him. And then, it started reforming into something else.

Something far more sinister.

As the black slime began to twist into a newer shape, the screen let out a happy beep and flickered in front of him.

 

 

What the heck?

The screen was only too happy to help.

 

He rolled his eyes. “What is Internal Lifeforce Manipulation?”

 

It was almost fascinating how the screen provided information in the snottiest of ways, yet without ruining the whole neutral-AI-thing it had going for itself.

But more importantly, if the screen was to be believed, this was a completely new Skill. A Skill, much like Scan and Analyze. Did that mean he could call for it at will?

“Use internal lifeforce manipulation,” he said eagerly.

...

Nothing happened. 

Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. How had he used this lifeforce thing again? When he did it earlier, it had been a subconscious act, one which he had no idea how to replicate. Especially if the screen wouldn’t assist him.

A strange hissing sound broke him from his reveries. The rubbery glove from hell was now gone, and what lay before him was—

Something ugly.

Something horrible.

Something… wrong.

This was no slime.

A large, semi-bloated tubule undulated before him, with strangely patterned spikes running down its length and viscous liquid dripping from its vicious fangs. Despite the fact that it possessed no eyes, Lukas could almost swear it was glaring at him maliciously.

In what universe is that a worm?

Lukas glanced at his arm. Whatever that substance was, it had definitely burnt his skin. It was probably a weak acid of some kind, as most of the damage was superficial. It hurt like a bitch, but there was ultimately no lasting impact.

Now unattached to his foe, Lukas picked up more pieces of burning moss and threw it at the hissing worm. The baleful creature made strange, malevolent noises as the fire burned through its membranous covering.

And then, it lifted its mouth and spat at him.

The globule missed him completely and dispersed across the floor, sizzling as sinister vapors began to rise from the point of impact.

Lukas couldn’t help but glance back to his still-numb left arm. To think, this worm had just been entwined around it. Corroding it.

A vengeful feeling rose within him. He ran forward and kicked the worm as hard as he could. The slimy creature flew backwards, splattering across the surface of the tunnel wall.

Only to start reforming just as quickly.

Lukas glared at it, moving forward as he raised his leg once more.

Why. Splat! Won’t. Splat! You. Splat! Just. Splat! Die!

And then, it happened again.

The feeling he had earlier, the rush when he drew upon lifeforce. And with it came unbridled confidence. A completely irrational belief that somehow, just somehow, he could kill it.

Lukas grinned.

“Worm, meet boot!”

Eagerly responding to his call, the lifeforce flooded his veins a second time, bringing forth a sense of exhilaration, filling him with the feeling of invincibility—

—and all of it came down crashing on the unfortunate head of the slime-worm.

SPLAT!

 

So moving his lifeforce into his feet had created a Skill. Was that how skills were made? Putting lifeforce into body parts?

Maybe I should try putting lifeforce into my punches next time.

Lukas shook his head. There would be time for experimentation later. It looked like he had underestimated the impact his kick had on the rest of the cave. 

It began as a soft murmur, almost as if something was shifting in the rocks. 

The sound of slow snapping soon followed.

And then, everything began to fall.

Moss. Hundreds— no, thousands of them. The ones in the center fell first, before the effect expanded radially outward. 

Lukas couldn’t understand how so much could have happened, all from a single kick.

The answer appeared immediately after.

Something dark, violent, and gelatinous began to take shape on the wall surface, spreading across it in twisted nerve-like patterns. It was large and spread out in the form of roots and tubules covered in large polygonal sacs. Like someone had the bright idea of cross-breeding earthworms and mushrooms while inebriated.

This thing is VILE.

Lukas prepared himself for a second strike, wanting to finish the worm for good. The screen hadn’t declared the worm dead yet, so it was likely still alive. He was beginning to suspect that physical injury wasn’t actually lethal to it, though considering how a portion of the meshwork of tubules limply hung off the wall, it was likely injured.

BEEP!

After a quick succession of several screenlets that kept appearing and vanishing, the main screen had let out an aggressive beep and popped up with new information.