The crevice Adam had claimed as his temporary home was damp, cramped, and smelled faintly of mold, but to him, it was a five-star sanctuary.
He woke up feeling... different. Stronger. Longer. He estimated he was now a solid foot and a half long. His pale scales seemed a touch darker, more resilient.
"Okay, Adam. You're no longer a complete newb. You're a... slightly experienced n00b. Time to see what this dungeon's menu has to offer."
Venturing out from his hideout, he moved with more purpose, his higher Agility making his slithering feel smooth and controlled. His first encounter was with a creature that seemed more annoying than dangerous: a Cave Glow-Pede (Lvl 1). It was a centipede-like insect as long as his arm, its segments pulsing with a soft green light.
"Well, you look harmless. And you're probably worth, like, 3 EP. But every point counts!"
He ambushed it easily, but the moment he bit down, he recoiled. The Glow-Pede's body released a bitter, acidic fluid that stung his mouth.
"Bleh! Tastes awful! Like battery acid and disappointment."
[ Defeated: Cave Glow-Pede (Lvl 1) ]
[ EP Gained: 3 ]
[ EP to Next Level: 18/20 ]
[ Total Evolution Points: 33/100 ]
When he consumed it, the result was underwhelming.
[ You have consumed a Cave Glow-Pede. ]
[ Vitality +0.05 ]
[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Bio-luminescence (0.1/1.0) ]
"Bio-luminescence? So I could glow in the dark? That's... actually kind of cool for stealth, I guess? Or maybe the worst ambush skill ever." He decided it was a long-term project.
He continued, growing more confident. He found and dispatched a few more Dung Beetles, efficiently using his Constrict-and-Venom combo. His Hardened Carapace fragment reached 0.7. He was starting to feel a subtle toughness in his scales.
Then, the tunnel opened into a larger cavern. And there, he saw the "large" the user had mentioned.
It was a Rock-Armored Toad (Lvl 5). It was enormous, the size of a large dog, with a bumpy, stone-like hide and a wide, gulping mouth. It sat motionless near a small, stagnant pool, looking like nothing more than a boulder itself.
Adam froze, pressing his body against the cavern wall.
"Whoa. Okay. That's a boss. That is definitely a boss. I am not ready for that."
He watched from the shadows as the toad's long, sticky tongue shot out, snagging a low-flying, bat-like creature from the air and retracting it into its mouth in a blink.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. I'll come back for you when I'm a giant, fire-breathing python."
He was about to slink away when his bad luck decided to make a cameo. In his haste to retreat, his tail dislodged a small pebble. It clattered down the slight incline, coming to a rest mere inches from the toad's front foot.
One of the toad's bulbous eyes swiveled downward. Then, slowly, it swiveled towards Adam's hiding spot.
"You have got to be kidding me. A PEBBLE?!"
The toad didn't charge. It simply opened its mouth, and its tongue, a pink missile, launched directly at him. Adam threw himself to the side with a desperate hiss. The tongue slapped against the wall where he had been with a sound like wet leather, sticking fast for a moment before retracting.
He didn't wait for a second shot. He turned and fled, not with panic, but with a calculated terror, zig-zagging back into the narrower tunnels he came from. The toad, too large and ponderous to follow, simply let out a deep "Grorrk!" of frustration and settled back into its boulder-like pose.
Adam didn't stop until he was two tunnels away, his heart pounding.
"Okay, note to self: the big, rocky toad is a no-touch zone. Also, my luck is still a statistical anomaly in the worst way possible."
Shaken but unharmed, he refocused on "weaker" prey. Over the next stretch of time, he encountered:
Fungal Bunnyslugs (Lvl 0): Slow, defenseless blobs of meat that granted a paltry 1 EP and tiny Vitality boosts. They were the dungeon's equivalent of snack food.
Crystal Shard Spiders (Lvl 2): Quick and could shoot weak, stinging strands of web. Their consumption gave him tiny Agility boosts and a new fragment: Web Resistance (0.2/1.0).
A Fever Newt (Lvl 4) that tried to spray a blinding liquid, which he barely dodged. Defeating it granted a nice chunk of EP and a Poison Resistance fragment.
It was a grueling, slow, and often disgusting process. But with every monster defeated and consumed, he felt his power incrementally grow. His stats were inching upward, and his collection of skill fragments was becoming a strange portfolio of dungeon life.
Finally, after a long and tiring battle with a particularly tenacious spider, the screen he had been waiting for appeared.
[ Ding! Level Up! ]
[ You are now Level 5! ]
[ EP to Next Level: 0/30 ]
[ Skill Point: +1 ]
[ Total Evolution Points: 72/100 ]
[ The System Shop is now Unlocked! ]
"YES! The Shop! Finally, some retail therapy!"
He found a secure nook and eagerly opened the new Shop interface. It was sparse, with only a few options available at his level.
[ Available Purchases ]
> Skill: Acute Smell (Passive) - Cost: 2 SP
Unlocks the full potential of your Jacobson's organ, greatly enhancing your sense of smell.
> Skill: Minor Regeneration (Passive) - Cost: 3 SP
Allows for slow recovery of health over time when not in combat.
> Attribute Point - Cost: 1 SP
A single point to assign to any attribute.
He looked at his saved Skill Points. He had 2.
"Tough choice. Acute Smell would synergize with my Keen Nose fragment... but Minor Regeneration is a huge survivability tool. But it costs 3..."
He made his decision. He purchased Acute Smell and used his remaining point on an Attribute Point, which he immediately put into Agility, bringing it to 7.
The moment Acute Smell activated, the world exploded with new information. The damp air was no longer just dank; it was a layered tapestry of scents—the musk of the Fang-Rat from tunnels away, the faint acidic tang of Glow-Pedes, the earthy odor of beetles, and the distinct, ominous scent of damp stone and rot that could only be the Rock-Armored Toad.
"Whoa. This is like having a map made of smells!"