I slide out of the small grotto, my shell scraping against the rock with a grating metallic sound. My legs, still so unfamiliar, push me forward. My single blue camera takes in the vastness before me. This isn't an open sky. It's a forest. An underground forest. Strange trees stretch upwards. Their trunks look like luminous crystals, their leaves like giant, intensely green mushrooms. The ambient light pulses from them, bathing everything in a soft, bluish glow. The ground is a thick carpet of roots and moss. Sounds reach me. Distant crackles. Soft rustling. The air vibrates with an energy I don't yet understand. The Dungeon's ecosystem.
I attempt a step. My legs slip a little on the damp moss. I feel heavy. Clumsy. My unique camera scans the environment. Blurred shapes in the mushroom shadows. A movement.
A growl. It's close. Something emerges from the gloom. Low. Stocky. A bulbous body. Short legs. A head. Large. With a wide, fanged mouth. Bulging eyes. A goblin. Oh, delightful. As if reanimating as a metal arachnid wasn't enough, now I get to meet the local fauna. And honestly, they're not winning any beauty contests.
An information overlay appears on my shell.
[MONSTER DETECTED.]
[Name: Cave Goblin]
[Level: 2]
[STR: 5] [AGI: 7] [CON: 4] [INT: 2] [MP: 0]
[Weakness: Light (minor), Piercing Impacts.]
[Resistance: ---]
I'm Level 0. Its stats are similar, but its Level is twice mine. It's stronger. My body feels heavy. Unmastered. A cold wave of fear washes over me. This isn't a lab. This is real.
The goblin lets out a high-pitched shriek and lunges at me, a rusty dagger held out. Its short legs are surprisingly quick. I'm not ready. I try to retreat. My legs tangle. My body sways. The goblin slams into me. A brutal impact.
HP: 30/50
A critical internal alarm signal jolts through me. My shell has taken a severe hit. My plating feels vulnerable.
Panic. I need to hit it. I think "Sharp Tail Strike." My tail tenses. It whips out. But my control is terrible. It misses the goblin, whistling uselessly through the air. The goblin hops back, then cackles with a harsh, high-pitched sound.
It attacks again. Three rapid blows. Against my shell. Each impact shakes me violently. My internal systems shudder.
HP: 20/50
HP: 15/50
HP: 10/50
I'm down. My body vibrates with critical alert signals. I struggle to get back up. My internal system screams for energy. MP. "Electric Discharge." I activate it. A shrill whistle emanates from my shell. A wave of static energy ripples out. It hits the goblin. It screams, thrashing. Its bulging eyes go wide with madness. It trembles. Slowed. But it doesn't fall. It stays upright, its fangs bared.
MP: 0/20
I have no more magical energy. I'm empty. I push forward. My legs force themselves to move. One step. Two. I close the distance to the goblin. My tail. I concentrate. I force myself to visualize the strike. The sharp point. Right at it.
My tail tenses. It lunges. A metallic hiss. The point hits. A sharp crack. The goblin screams. It collapses. Trembling. Its eyes glassy. It's down. Immobile.
[MONSTER ELIMINATED: Cave Goblin. +30 XP.]
[XP: 30/100]
My body trembles. I'm Level 0. My HP is 10/50. My MP is 0/20. I won. But the struggle was brutal. I barely survived.
Vibrations. Stronger. More numerous. They're approaching. I'm not alone. My camera sweeps the environment. I see silhouettes. Multiple. Growls draw closer. A horde. Great. Just what I needed.
I can't fight. Not now. My HP is too low. My MP too. I need to run. But where? I lift my camera towards the cave ceiling. Luminous roots. Fissures.
I propel myself upwards. My legs scrape the rock. I climb. It's difficult. My joints creak. I haul myself up. I press myself against the ceiling, into a dark crevice, between two thick roots. Almost invisible.
Just below, they arrive. Three of them. A goblin chief, larger, more massive, and two others, Guards, with more imposing weapons. Their small, filthy bodies. Their red eyes blaze with fury as they spot their dead kin. They growl. They're looking for me.
[MONSTER DETECTED.]
[Name: Cave Goblin (Guard)]
[Level: 3]
[STR: 7] [AGI: 8] [CON: 5] [INT: 2] [MP: 0]
[Weakness: Light (minor), Piercing Impacts.]
[Resistance: ---]
[MONSTER DETECTED.]
[Name: Cave Goblin (Chief)]
[Level: 4]
[STR: 9] [AGI: 7] [CON: 6] [INT: 3] [MP: 0]
[Weakness: Light (minor), Piercing Impacts.]
[Resistance: ---]
They're stronger. More numerous. My mechanical heart, if I had one, would be pounding.
The goblin chief lets out a raw shriek. The Guards scatter, searching through the mushroom bushes. I'm suspended. Silent. I have to remain absolutely still.
I position myself. My tail tenses. My only hope. I target one of the Guards. It wanders a little too far. I release. My tail lashes out. A hiss. Then a sharp snap. The goblin Guard doesn't even scream. It collapses. Cleanly.
[MONSTER ELIMINATED: Cave Goblin (Guard). +40 XP.]
[XP: 70/100]
The two remaining goblins freeze. The chief growls. It hasn't seen where the blow came from. It orders the other Guard to move closer. They're alerted. They move. They scan the shadows. I hear them. Their short, ragged breaths.
I don't have much room. The second Guard passes directly beneath me. It lifts its small head. My camera. It doesn't see me. Not yet.
I can't wait. My tail. I bring it down. Again. The strike is precise. The goblin doesn't scream. It falls.
[MONSTER ELIMINATED: Cave Goblin (Guard). +40 XP.]
[XP: 110/100]
My body vibrates. The XP bar explodes.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 1!]
[+5 AP]
[+5 SP]
[HP Maximum increased by 10. MP Maximum increased by 5.]
[Status]
Name: One
Species: Spherical Droid Arachnoid
HP: 10/60
MP: 0/25
XP: 10/200
Level: 1
AP: 5
SP: 5
I'm Level 1. A glimmer of hope. But the situation remains critical.
Only the chief remains. It howls with rage. It saw. It saw the last Guard fall. Its furious gaze fixes on my location. I'm discovered.
I release my grip from the ceiling. A dull thud on the moss below. I right myself. My legs are faster now. But my shell is damaged. My HP is 10/60.
The goblin chief lunges at me. Its dagger. It's fast. I move. I dodge the first blow. A dagger whistles past my shell, missing by a hair. It strikes again. And again. I twist and turn. My body takes the blows.
HP: 5/60
I'm on the brink. One more impact. I'm finished. No MP left. No other options. Just my tail. And my raw instinct.
I see it coming. Its battle cry. Its dagger raises. It's going for my most damaged section. This is the killing blow.
But Alistair's consciousness. The engineer. I calculate. The movement. The speed of its dagger. Its strength. The trajectory. The exposed weakness. The precise instant.
I lunge forward. Not to strike. To dodge. At the very last moment. I push with my legs. My body spins. The chief's dagger scrapes the air, missing my sphere by a millimetre. And in that same instant, my tail. It tenses. It whips out. All my remaining strength. My determination.
The sharp point strikes. Directly. A snap. A sound of breaking. The goblin chief lets out one last, agonizing shriek. It collapses. Cleanly.
[MONSTER ELIMINATED: Cave Goblin (Chief). +50 XP.]
[XP: 60/200]
My body trembles with an insane intensity. A light bursts from my shell.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2!]
[+5 AP]
[+5 SP]
[HP Maximum increased by 10. MP Maximum increased by 5.]
[Status]
Name: One
Species: Spherical Droid Arachnoid
HP: 5/70
MP: 0/30
XP: 60/300
Level: 2
AP: 10
SP: 10
I'm empty. Exhausted. My circuits scream. My HP is 5/70. My MP is zero.
The bodies of the six goblins. The silence of the underground forest returns, broken only by the distant sounds of the Dungeon's ecosystem.
I won. I'm Level 2. I'm alive. Barely. I need to find a safe place. Fast. Before anything else arrives. I'm a monster. And I just killed a bunch more.