Opportunities

Day 2

Slowly My eyes open for and for just a minute, I even think I just dreamed up everything that happened. That lasts for about 2 seconds before I unceremoniously roll out of my mossy shelter and back onto the cold stone floor.

"Sigh" Well nothing to do but take on the day and hope it'll be better than the last one. I get up and stretch, still getting familiar with my new form and trying to take my mind off my uncertain situation.

Ultimately, I decide looking for somewhere to live is the most important task for now at least. I don't know what's out there, but I can't just sit in this tunnel and wait around forever, actually I'm already feeling kind of hungry...

After a brief check for any threats, I take one last sip of water for the road before scurrying out back on my trek through the root laden pathway.

As I move along slowly the otherwise root-covered walls start to have the occasional holes of various sizes which the roots have grown around, never obstructing the entrances where other tunnels of various sizes intersect with mine.

At one point I actually decide to enter one particularly large path I come across hoping for a less claustrophobic experience for my exploration, before I get two steps in, I'm stopped as a horrific gurgled roar bellows in the distance echoing loudly through the countless tunnels scaring me out of my new scales!

The thunderous sound was like a horrific cross between a pig's squeal and a Tyrannosaurus roaring and frankly sounded just as big. "gulp" I think I'll stick to the smaller tunnels from now on…

After crawling through countless tunnels and taking over a dozen turns over what feels like ages Im finally forced to give up trying to keep track of what turns I've taken, consigning myself to the fact that I'll just have to wander on and hope to stumble on something with no hope of memorizing any paths incase I want to go back.

I could always leave a trail of my scales or something but I don't want to take the chance of something else deciding to follow them back to me.

In a way it's kind of exciting traveling without knowing where you're actually going To wind up. Only a few minutes later I find myself in a particularly cramped path and find myself staring at an Eerie blue glow coming from under the gap between two roots nearby.

Unable to control my curiosity, I cautiously approach and take a peek under the root where I see a small group of strange little creatures whose bioluminescent bodies are the source of the same faint glow that caught my attention.

They look a lot like ants up until the head where things get weird. They are almost squid-like, oval shaped with 3 glowing dots on either side that look like eyes with tiny tentacles coming out where you would expect the mouth to be.

Since they are either unaware of me or just don't care I take the opportunity to try to use my systems scan ability again squinting my eyes and focusing on the closest specimen willing the same holographic screen to appear.

This time things are slightly different; the skill takes almost 10 seconds to finish and bring the image of the creature's status forward.

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[Basic scan complete]

Species Profile: "C'thil" LV.2

Vitae: N/A

(Traits, Regenerative saliva lv.1, Carrion eater)

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Well that's not really all that helpful, I guess I get less information if I analyze anything but myself. Oh well there's nothing that looks too dangerous and If this world works like I think I just need to kill stuff to get stronger. The real issue is while they look disgusting… but I'm super hungry and I can't afford to be picky.

Knowing that I'll back out if I think about it too much, I reach my claws down and in one swift motion close my claws around the nearest one trapping it in my grasp before bringing my hand to my mouth and biting down.

The result? Worse than I could ever imagine. Where I had anticipated a crunch, I was met with a feeling like chewing on a bad grape which burst into a slime in my mouth.

The taste is non-existent which only makes it worse as I'm forced to focus on the horrible texture until I force it down.

Tiamat: [LV.2 "C'thil" killed +1 exp]

I'm barely able to register the words that ring through my head as I'm already trying to grab another of the now alerted critters.

I manage to catch just one more, spearing it with one of my talons at the last second as the last of them scattered into small gaps between roots beyond my meager reach.

An Identical message to the one before rings out before the morsel even reaches my mouth only to be followed by a few new notices.

[Conditions met; Task system has been unlocked.]

Alistair: "Ooo! Now this sounds interesting. How does it work?"

[The Task system provides various optional objectives for the host to pursue.]

Alistair: "Do I get anything for doing them?"

[Suitable rewards will be offered for tasks with higher risk or difficulty though if the completion of the task already is beneficial to the host this may be considered the reward in of itself, additional tasks typically serve to press your abilities to the limit and as such often require significant risk to pursue. Please note all tasks are optional and only serve to supplement your life, Pursue or ignore them at your own risk.]

Alistair: "And how do you make these?"

[I do not. Nor am I aware of what does, I am simply aware of when one is available and the requirements as well as the respective reward.]

Well, that's concerning… Still nothing I can do about it right now anyways so no point worrying about it. I'll take what I can get.

Task: [slay 0/5 creatures of your size category or larger]

Reward:[Predatory instinct skill]

Hmm, sounds straightforward enough if I can find something lower than me on the food chain… But if the only thing my size are things like that cat creature though then I'm screwed.

While it's nice to have the opportunity it's a bit of a shame I don't get to see the reward for them in advance.

It really messes with a goal-oriented person like myself. Once I give up on being able to catch any of the other C'thil I get back to my journey down the winding tunnel only to moments later be met with a faint breeze and a growing orange light emanating from ahead, I must be getting close to the end of this tunnel.