“-tic.. huh. This isn’t what I expected at all.” I mumble to myself as I look around at my surroundings. I was in a dark and chilly corridor that turned so sharply to the left that it almost looked like it ended abruptly. The only light in the darkness that I could see was me. The walls seemed to be dozens of twisted and warped trees so close together that there wasn’t even enough of a gap for me to be able to squeeze through between them. As I studied the walls, I could see that the trees bent inwards at the top to form a treetop of entwined leafy branches that entirely blocked my vision of any possible sky. As I turned around on the spot, slight wisps of cool fog swirled around me before slowly dissipating. No doubt created from eddies in the air from my wings. I couldn’t help but shiver from more than the colder temperature inside the dungeon. Suddenly there was a feeling of warning, of dread, that almost seemed to seep into my very bones. Actually, I wasn’t even sure I had bones. Not important.  My heart started racing as my eyes darted about looking for the danger. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly and glared at my surroundings. Somehow I recognised the negative feelings that I had started struggling with as artificial. This place was somehow making me feel them. With that realisation the feelings lifted as if they’d never been there and I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. I almost felt warmer and lighter somehow. 

Ding

Congratulations! You have successfully resisted a psychic attack. Due to your class, you have gained [Psychic Resistance] Rank 1 

“Oh, sweet! A new ability,” I cheered as I read the notification. I kind of wondered why I hadn’t started with it, but better late than never. 

“Sheesh, that was some heavy magic there, dung heap.” I giggled as I poked my tongue out at the dungeon. 

It seemed that recognising that I had been under some kind of mental or psychic influence helped me resist, then ignore it almost entirely. I say almost, because I still felt a nagging feeling of fear that seemed to sit in the back of my head but I was easily able to block it out. Hopefully this near constant psychic assault will level my resistance up. I was just about to move further into the creepy dungeon when I received a notification in my hud.

Notice: Dungeon Quest

Tree Caverns Dungeon has become corrupted by some kind of malevolent entity, discover its identity and destroy it to clear the corruption

Rewards: 

[Class Ring] (Uncommon) x1

3,900 xp

Accept Decline

I immediately hit accept because getting a class ring sounded like a great reward, plus I was already going to try and clear it. The experience would be great too, although I wasn’t sure how experience translated into Power Levels just yet. Hopefully one day I will either figure it out or find someone who knows more. I can always go back to Fairy and ask Grams and Gramps but I want to become stronger before I do that. 

I shrugged my shoulders, no point thinking about it just yet. I have a dungeon to clear. I had just started moving when yet another notification got my attention. 

Ding

Congratulations! Your [Psychic Resistance] has increased to rank 2

“Yay!” I shouted out in glee at the same time that I felt the lingering sense of fear in the back of my mind fade to just barely noticeable. “It increased in rank pretty fast. Although my pulse skill also increased pretty quick to rank 2 but hasn’t gone up any further. No doubt each rank would take more effort to increase.” I mumbled to myself as I flew through the darkness. A burst of fear shot up my spine and I gasped loudly as I felt something brush against my shoulders, prompting me to realise I hadn’t been paying any attention to my surroundings once again. I would’ve jumped in fright if whatever brushed my shoulder hadn’t just twisted itself around and held me in place. I could see it was some kind of a blackish green vine and as they constricted my wings, a startled yelp escaped my lips as I fell briefly before the vines caught me. My arms were pinned to my sides pointing down so I couldn’t even fire my [Telekinetic Pulse] at the ceiling and hope I managed to hit whatever had grabbed me. 

I had to fight down my rising panic while I started squirming as hard as I could to try and somehow break the grip this monster had on me. The vines shifted their grip and I screamed out in agony as it squeezed me tighter. 

“Ahhrg, let go of me, you stupid fake rope!” 

With a sudden jolt I felt myself rising as the vines started lifting me up. “Oh, this is probably very not good for me,” I muttered to myself quietly, “how am I going to get out of this? Oh… I know!” I practically shouted excitedly. I activated my shield and faint shimmering violet light popped up silently all around me, then vanished almost instantly with a popping sound but not before the shield thankfully cut through the vines dangling above me. “Ha! Oh, no.” I let out a startled yelp as the sensation of falling washed over me from gravity deciding to assist me back down to the ground. I struggled to break free from the vines that had wrapped themselves around me before I hit the ground. I failed. I hit the foggy, slightly soft and damp ground with a thud, a pain filled gasp escaped my lips as the impact with the ground knocked me senseless and breathless for a few moments. 

“Ow!” I groaned softly to anyone who’d listen. 

Since no one replied, I assumed no one else listened to my witty commentary, oh well, their bad luck. Thankfully now that the vine had been severed, it was an easy task to get out from the pesky plant that had wrapped me up like a black-green burrito. I gasped as something brushed against my leg and as my heart started beating even faster in fear, I shot up into the air to avoid it. Making sure to avoid any more dangling personal space violators as I did so. Looking down, I could see a few of the vines seemingly slithering about like snakes as they searched for prey and I shivered. “Nasty blighters.” I couldn’t help but comment. I focused on a vine and used my [Inspect] skill. 

Death’s Grip (Rare)

Power Level: 258

Death’s grip, so called that for its deadly grip on unsuspecting prey, is known for ambushing said prey as they walk into its territory. It keeps its vine like limbs on the ground and dangling from high up, seemingly innocuous until you are within range. 

“Huh, it’s only 258 Power Level? No wonder I escaped fairly easily,” I tapped my chin as I hovered there thinking, “although if the creatures at the start of the dungeon were already near my level, what would the final boss level be?” I wondered then shrugged my shoulders. Ultimately it didn’t matter unless the boss was too strong for me. “Also.. you’re a (rare) creature?” I asked it, not expecting an answer. “That’s the second time I have seen a creature with an extra, what would you even call that? Rarity? Title? The Rok was a (Champion) whatever that is, that had tried to kill me too. At the time I just assumed it was just it’s Power Level that made it so scary, I may have been wrong about that.” I shrugged again, no one was around to ask and I wouldn’t discover answers just hovering here, so I lifted up my left arm, and fired multiple pulses at what I could see seemed to be the creature's body. It looked like a giant, ugly flower with way too many spikes surrounding it. Two [Telekinetic Pulse]s ripped through the creature and bits and pieces of it blew everywhere before shimmering into blue light particles and vanishing as the pulses' shockwaves rippled out from their impact point. 

“Ha! Take that, ugly, that’s what you get for trying to eat me.” I shouted with glee at the destruction I had wrought. I was really starting to enjoy firing pulses at enemies. I blow on my fists before pretending to holster them. “Ooo, hello there, lovely. What do we have here?” I asked literally no one as I noticed the golden orb of looty goodness floating near the ground. I looked all around me and near where the loot orb was to make sure there wasn’t anymore Death’s Grips nor any other nasty critters ready to make Azalea Soup. Seeing (and desperately hoping) there wasn't anything dangerous nearby, with my wings fluttering almost lazily, I slowly approached the golden orb and placed my hand on it to loot. 

Death’s Grip Blood x1

“Huh, wasn’t this thing a plant? Wouldn’t it be sap then? Oh, well, no point in thinking about game logic, or whatever this universe thingy is.” 

I feel like if I shrug anymore my shoulders will fall off, I can’t help but think. Don’t you dare shrug at that either! 

After I stored the blood/sap into my inventory, I cautiously started flying along the corridor. Made all the more dangerous that it turns so sharply that I can’t see up ahead. As I approached where it turns to the left, I hugged the wall on the left. I had intended to only have a brief glance, but as soon as I saw into the other room, I couldn’t help but stare. 

“Wow, that’s so pretty,” I let out a surprised gasp. The next corridor was fairly short and quickly opened up into a large round room, void of anything except for the constant fog on the ground and a single large tree. Made out of shiny crystal. It. Was. A. Crystal. Tree! and it looked beautiful. It was a twinkling, crystalline blue, shimmering with streaks of purple, red and pinks. Even the leaves looked like they were made from a darker blue crystal. As I cautiously approached it while looking around for any and all types of danger that I could think of, the tree seemed to glow a little bit and a soft and soothing melody seemed to drift into my mind. I couldn’t see anything but the mesmerising tree though as I drifted towards it. Such a pretty tree. I wonder what it feels like? I bet it’s smooth and warm. I let out a loud yawn. I’m starting to feel tired, I should just have a rest on the tree's roots. No doubt it’ll protect me as I sleep for a moment. I couldn’t tell if these thoughts were mine or someone else’s but they made sense, and I was so very very tired. Wait… someone else’s thoughts? No, this is wrong! I closed my eyes and shook my head almost violently as I tried to clear my head of any strange thoughts. In the process, the strange sleepiness and desire to sleep underneath the tree slackened a little bit, enough to put effort into resisting this strange compulsion I was under. 

“Get. Out of. My. Head!” I grunted as I put all of my effort into pushing the foreign thoughts from my mind. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when I felt the intruder metaphorically take a step back from my mind, enough that I could crack open my eyes a little bit. I cautiously glanced at the tree and inspected it. 

Life Shard{corrupted} (Rare) 

Power Level: 450

A single shard from the Tree of Life was placed in this dungeon and grew to become this beautiful specimen. Unfortunately it has become corrupted by a malevolent entity and is considered extremely dangerous. 

Just as I inspected the [Life Shard] it seemed to shiver and let out a burst of sound that made me struggle to not fall asleep again. Three seeds also dropped from its high branches and hit the ground with wet thuds. From out of the seeds, growing rapidly were tiny little creatures that resembled walking, talking trees from a certain fantasy trilogy. Only these were made from crystal. The process looked so awesome, I didn’t do anything to react to them straight away like I should have, except to inspect them. 

Life Shardling{corrupted} (Rare)

Power Level: 275

Grown from the seeds of a shard from the Tree of Life. These shardlings are often used to help maintain the tree’s environment and the tree's health. They can and will fight viciously and relentlessly to protect their originator at all costs. 

I had decided I had read and watched enough and activated my [Psychic Shield] ability as a little thrill of the coming battle shot up my spine and made me shiver in anticipation. 

“Bring it on, chandeliers!” I taunted as I raised my hands to fire.