The Hatchery(2)

*FWOOOOOOOOSH* *SPLAAAAAASH*

OK!

I admit it.

I maaaaaaaaybeeee went a teensy weensey itty bitty overboard in my super awesome plan haha.

*FWWWWWWOOOSH*

"UWWWWAH" Oh man that things coming too fast. What the heck!

OK, SERIOUSLY I WENT WAAAY OVERBOARD.

GOSH, DARN IT! MARBLE CAKE ON A CINNAMON STICK! Mmm! that sounds pretty delicious…..WAIT NO TIIIIIME.

That big hunk of muck was graciously making its way home through this cave and it was all my fault.

YUIJI! YOU IDIOT! YOU BIG FAT IDIOOOT.

[some time ago...or whenever the heck time ago]

*Plink* *Plink*

The continuous sounds of water dripping brought a sense of relief to me.

'AHA, there's another source here to' I observed the black muck that dripped from the caves ceiling. It was pitch black, even when it hit the floor, it covered the tunnel floors is blackness. Thanks to my flames, I was able to see it clearly.

Since I can't drink it, then it is pretty obvious to not call it "water " right? So "Black Muck" is the way to go! Annnd, I found another source of black muck, not just the one by Mr wall.

I decided to go back before an Arachna came. I settled down in the pitch blackness next to old Mr wall and breathed out.

'There may be more in this tunnel'

To enact my plan, I need that muck. But, these tiny drops won't do, nope I need much more hee hee. I'm so excited, this could work.

How dare those spiders throw me in for a loop! I mean I did kiiiiiinnnndaaa invade their home and killed a large amount of their kin, and possibly wounded their mother(Talking about you Arachna that bit me)

But HEY!! I'm new here, no need to be so fussy ya know, I'm just a foreigner trying to survive, like why can't we all just get along ya know...

Mono 1: Haaaaaah

Mono 2: GROOOOOOOWLLLLLL

Ahem, tough crowd huh.

Anyway, my secret plan requires heaps of muck. What's my secret plan you ask? Well, no one actually asked me, I mean I'm just sitting here talking to myself, but hey beggars can't be choosers, but anyway. I call it:

"OPERATION: ASSASSINATION BY POLLUTION!!!!!"

Hmmm, nah too long. How about:

"YUIJI'S POLUT-SSINATION!!!!"

OHO! Much better. I nodded to myself in the pitch black. Although this was pretty risky, I had a pretty good feeling that no spiders will be coming down here, So I could try to AT LEAST rest easy a bit.

I thought of my plan, which was simple. That river of muck is strictly in the Endzone. Most of the water in the Moon Forest was SHOCKINGLY safe to drink, but they are pretty sparse because both are only located within the Hollow Grove section. I'd say it's about umm 2 fresh sources of water!

Come to think of it, I didn't see a single monster in the Endzone, but I'm sure there are some here. I remember mom and papa caught and defeated one, I didn't know what that thing was but it looked menacing and intimidating. If I could remember it a bit better, it kinda looked like a bear, but more skinny looking like it hasn't eaten in days.

I shivered at the memory.

However, when I came here, I didn't see a single monster. I puffed my cheeks out and tilted my head.

'Its possible that this black muck is so dangerous that even the surrounding monsters avoid it' If this was the case, then even these spiders won't be able to survive if I was to douse a little on them.

Hee hee~ I'd be like "TAKE THIS! MY NOT SO SACRED HOLY WATER OF DEATH" and they'd be like "WREEEEEE...IIIMMMM MELLLLTIIIINNNNG"

Mufufufu….AWSEOME PLAN!!!

I threw two fingers up in the pitch blackness as my victory pose.

Mono 1: If its dangerous to those spiders and other monsters...then wouldn't it be dangerous for you to?

Eh…..

EEH?

Mono 1: Haaaaah idiot

I TOTALLY DIDNT THINK OF THAAAAAT. I grabbed a fistful of my hair and tugged at it. Thats right although I'm a Saphiras I'm still weak! So there's a huge possibility that I can get killed or whatever too. I slumped down glumly.

'Man...and it was an awesome plan too. I'd need something that can actually hold to muck inside, like a water jar or bowl or something….Hahh mom, what do I do?'

My mind flashed to her stone statue. I really wish I could go back to that place, but its destroyed.

Suddenly I jerked up.

THAT'S IT! I practically have all my materials here. I mean I may not be a good craftsman, but I did build a lot of stuff with stone and rock. If I can craft little cups that I can splash and sprinkle them with then I'd be set! I could use the Arachna's sticky webs for putting the cups together It'd be like throwing salt to keep spirits at bay!

The only problem issss, well i need Arachna webs in order to craft the stuff. And that meant…

I had to go back to the feeding grounds.

BUT I can save that stuff for later, first I need to find all my sources of muck. I shivered with excitement. I was actually thinking something that might be good enough for once. After numerous failures this seemed solid!

HORRRAA-UGH!?

A sharp bit of aching pain coursed its way through me like lightning, and I immediately fell to the ground writhing in pain. Crap I forgot about all my wounds.

'OW OW OW this reeeeallly hurts"

My broken ribs, although were partially healed, were throbbing like crazy. It was like some drumming jerk was banging them periodically just to mess with me. Even my wounds from the wolves were acting up. A sharp, burning sting would make its way known every time I moved.

'I should wait to get used to the pain a bit' The good thing was, I can recover a bit of magi-toms which would be a huge help for what I'm about to do soon.

Recovering Magi-toms was now a top priority for me, and the only way for me to do that was via rest. Yep, a good night's rest is the # 1 way to get ya magi engine back running. Although I can't sleep yet.

Not sure why, but my entire body is like super alert now. I dont feel safe at all. Although I can tone it down and recover a bit, actually sleeping here is a bit out of the question. Is it because I'm in my human form? Primal instincts maybe?

Whatever the case, it'd probably be a good idea to just wait it out until I can find a safe place to sleep, or if I'll ever find a safe place here…

*Plink* *plink*

I swallowed, my throat felt horribly dry, I seriously want to cough up a storm now, but I'm holding it back so much that my eyes and nose are burning like crrraaazy haha, talk about hardcore.

Man, it's a good thing no humans are here with me, or else they'd question my health status like crazy.

More time passed and though the pain didn't let up not one bit, yea pretty stubborn there, I was at least able to bear it a lot longer than when I first went through it.

I got up and started to stretch, of course, this hurt horribly, but I needed to get my body up and running again. I was sure I recovered enough magi-toms but not all of it. If anything, it was only enough to do a couple spells.

'ALRIGHT TIME TO EXPLORE SOME MORE!' I quietly slapped my face and hardened my determination. Lets go over the goals first.

MONO DISCUSSION COMMENCE!!!

Mono 1: Ahem. Survival is a must, how can we find papa, if we'd end up dead?

mmhmm, It's best to prioritize the now and instead of the later, so GOOD ON YA MONO 1!

Mono 2: FOOD FOOD FOOD, OR DEATH!!!!

That's true I need to find something to eat or I could die of starvation. OK, ONCE I'M OUTTA HERE I'LL FIND FOOD!!

Mono 3: CHAOS!!!! FIRE!!!!!! BURN AND KILL THEM ALL AHAHAHAH!!!

Ummm...

Mono 4: WHAT IF THE PLAN DOESN'T WORK, WHAT IF IT SCREWS UP, I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS I WANT TO HIIIIIDE!!!!!'

YES!!

Ok, from this discussion, I now know the things I have to do. I came down here to find papa, but so far we hit a dead end. So to find him I have to get out of this hole first. Aww, that means finding papa will have to be put on hold for now.

My top priority now is the get out of this cave, and first I need to find all sources of muck. I also needed to keep in mind that those spidey boys are smart, they actually have patrols here. At least it seems that the big Arachnas actually patrol the tunnels. So I'd need to learn how to avoid that.

But seriously though, how did they do that. I got the feeling that that big guy could sense my movements. How does it do that if it's blind? Is it some sort of affinity? But I didnt feel any magi-toms being activated in the air. Then was it some sort of sensory thing?

'Wonder if I can do that with illusory sense?'

I seriously wanted to try it. But how the heck would I go about it? Singing a hymn? praying? feeling the force? Meditation? Hmmm, the old kung fu movies I watched always close their eyes and sit still. So maybe like that?

Next was I was seriously on a time limit here. Any moment now and I can lose all source of my rationality and you know…...yea you know. In order to prevet that, I need to find a source of food. Luckily, monsters happen to come down here(seriously, how the heck did a boar get down here though?) I could probably snag a meal if im lucky!

I walked forward in the pitch blackness. Whatever the case, if I could achieve this, it would be super helpful….AND COOL!

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I wandered around aimlessly. OK! The good news! I haven't encountered any danger yet. the bad news well I haven't found another source of muck.

Man this place is huge. To make matters worse, EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME. Cave walll cave wall cave cave cave! I mean can't you spiders make your home more, you know homey? I mean at least get some flowers and decorate here...seriously.

This sucks, how the heck can I find another source. there should be another one here besides those two. I was seriously starting to get frustated ya know. Like I've been walking around for what seems like days. I thought since I finally made a bit of progress, things would be much easier, but I was wrong.

Mono 1: You'll be stuck here at this rate.

Whuuu NOOOOO!!!! I need to get outta here. I was no longer near Mr wall, it felt as if I was exposed by all forces. Though no siders were here, I felt completely on edge.

'Ok I just need to calm down, whooosaaa~ calm down yuiji, Whose calm? Im calm. I mean im always calm! Im like the calmiest calmly person around'

I breathed in and out. Phew almost lost myself there for a sec. I can't keep relying on my eyes, but it is such a habit when it's all I've been doing since I've reincarnated here.

You can't just up and say "OH im blind down!" When you can still clearly see, what are you delusional? If a blind person could see, I'm sure as heck they'd be jumping for joy ya know!

I should simply close them. If I can't stay awake then I SHOULD SLEEP WHILE IM AWAKE!

Wait that sounded super weird.

OK once more: I' ll keep my eyes close like im asleep when im awake, that way I wont have the habit of trying to use my eyes.

'Phew..much better…'

With that thought, I closed my eyes.

Mufufufu. As expected! Its total blackness. Yea don't know what I was expecting ahem-hem….

'Ok yuiji, one step forward' I took a step forward and continued walking. '

'EH? H-hey this might not be so b-" but immediately felt my leg buckle beneath me.

"!?!?!?"

*THUMP*

'Ow'

I had tripped over a pebble. Crap stupid rocks, why the heck are you there now, you mean balls of earth! Ok, let's just try again. I got up once more and breathed in and out, closing my eyes. Once more I took a step forward.

*THWACK*

'OOOOOOW'

This time it was the wall. I slumped on the ground and grabbed my nose, I could feel it reddening up.

This cycle repeated itself constantly, I'm sure I'm gonna have a lot of bruises when this is over.

After some time passed….

"Hah...hah"

'O-ok o-one more time' I tried once more but I tensed up and reopened my eyes. Aggh I seriously can't get used to this.

Mono 4: I JUST CAN'T!!! WHAT IF I HIT ANOTHER WALL OR FALL AGAIN, WHAT IF A SPIDER COMES AND ATTACK? HOW WOULD I KNOW WHEN TO DEFEND MYSELF?

This was waay harder than I thought, I mean it was like I was completely useless all of a sudden, currently, I wasn't using "Illusory Sense" I only used it to simply track Arachnas out from the disgusting decaying stench that's wafting around here.

Even then, I didn't really have any issues with walking because I relied to much on my magic, so I could practically see my way through. But now that I took that off the plate, I was practically empty.

'At this rate, I'm gonna fail…'

I shook my head.

'You got this Yuiji I have "Illusory Sense", I can smell them!' Though not when they attack. I wonder should I simply keep using it? Maybe I can be more proficient at it and something might happen. I mean this is a fantasy world, with lots of mysteries and stuff. So who knows.

I took a deeeep deep breath and closed my eyes once again.

In and out…

In and out…..

Various horrendous smells were filtering through my nose, but I decided not to pay them no mind for now, instead, I simply focused on concentrating.

I felt my pounding heart calming down, and my floppy stomach was beginning to settle down as well. I didnt immediately walk, instead, I decided to stand still until I got a good rhythm going about.

'Ok! I've calmed down a bit. let's try it once more'

While I focused, an image of those Arachna s crawling entered my mind. 'Thas right, I'm no longer Yuiji the Saphiras, instead, I'm an Arachna now' I remebered making that declaration. It wouldnt hurt to try it.

I crouched down to the ground on all floors, as if I was doing a plank.

"Think spider' I needed to completely envelope myself like I was one of those spidey boys. This was a bit hard on my wounds but I bared with it.

I took a step forward.

My hands and feet touched the bare cracked grounds. I could feel the rough surface of the floor as my hands made their way back and forth. The ground felt cold, and a bit moist but not entirely.

One step….two step...three steps…Four.

I started out cautiously. My hands slid on the ground, feeling for rocks and their forms of contact, and once made, I maneuvered my body away from them.

Gradually I was starting to get used to crawling on the ground.

'Yep yep! now for the hard part' I finally decided to try using "illusory sense" Simultaneously while crawling on all fours.

I breathed in. I tensed up immediately, my eyes clenched closed. I almsot opened them. Ugh, this always happens when I turn it off and then turn it on, like an entire horde of smells comes rushing in full force, and I get all woozy ya know.

I thinned the smells out one by one, gradually getting used to them until finally, I was no longer affected by it. Then I moved once more.

'Hey, I think…'

I felt a sense of hope, nice and fluffy.

I did it!

I was actually getting used to this!

I smiled happily as I walked until I stopped. I felt the floor gently as to not knock back any lingering rocks.

I felt both sides and found that the corners were sharp. This meant that I was at an exit of the tunnel and was entering a new area. Finally, I successfully made it out of one of the tunnels that I was currently inside.

"WHOOHOO GOO ME!! AM I A GENIUS OR WHAT'

I danced and cheered for taking a good step forward. I could even hear cheering inside my head!

Mono 1: Heck Yea!

Mono 4: PHEW THANK GOODNESS…

MONO 5: HORRAAAY!!!!!!

Finally, things were starting to look up.