Abystella - The Star of The Abyss

Chapter 9: The Forest of Whispers

Back to the forest of mushrooms, Jack had just finished absorbing the blood and taking some meat off the bull's carcass, so they could later have something to eat, though he didn't know if it was edible. But it was better than risking it with the alternative that was the mushrooms themselves, still, he wanted to get some meat off the birds too as he didn't trust giving the fungi infected bull's meat to Laura. Who, noticing his movement, began doing the same with the bird carcass and absorbing as much blood as she could, this time with our hero as a lookout.

Meanwhile, he took the chance to better scout their surroundings, as his instincts whispered to him that it was safe. He walked back to the battlefield of the beasts with extreme care, chancing upon their previous hiding space, still filled with blood. Since he was pretty fast in absorbing it, he went inside once more and stayed there for a few minutes, paying attention to the distance, the monster corpses were no more as he assumed the victor had taken the looser's body back to its nest to feed.

He hoped never to come face to face with neither of the boss monsters. After looking about a bit, he saw a couple of birds feasting on a corpse in the distance. They were so absorbed in their meal that they didn't even notice him. Choosing to not fight any longer, as he wasn't fully recovered from the previous rodeo, Jack went back to Laura, who had just finished her absorbing.

Something caught our hero's attention, it was her eyes, they seemed to have become a slightly lighter tinge of blue. ''Did you upgrade your skill?'' She nodded, although there was no way of explaining to him the improvements. ''That's great, should be a bit safer exploring now.'' Laura glanced at him quizzically, almost as if asking: "What about you?''

He shrugged. ''I was too busy scouting around and collecting dinner to check, also my instinct definitely is warning that it isn't, fully safe here yet. If I had to take a guess, I'd say this is the exact point where both of the beast's territories.''

She shuddered a bit before nodding and pointing deeper in the forest.

''Agreed, don't want to be without cover if all that begins again or a monster stampede passes by.''

Thus, they went deeper into the forest. They wouldn't know but by now, it would be dead of nightfall and only in that extremely unlucky moment had they been not just at the perfect place, but a t the perfect time too as only ate dusk, would the fungi monsters would meet the birds.

The mushroom forest was just as well lit as it seemed, plants illuminating it several different hues that tinged the atmosphere in blue, green, purple and red. Jack could even hear a soft ringing or singing tune, emanated by some specific flora. Meanwhile, to Laura, it was all a bit dazzling and even disorienting.

Going deeper still, they eventually found the river that crossed the cave. Though only Laura was able to see it, as the plant life seemed to grow much denser the closer they were to it. They found themselves a decently high mushroom and were soon at the top of it, preparing a small fire atop some mud and the fungi itself. Laura made the fire while Jack rested a bit while checking out his skill progress.

[Jack Fortune (?)]

[Awakened Blooded *]

[Inherent Trait: @#$$&@! Realization Progress: 7%]

[Skills:]

[Inherent Skill: *%#)(% - Mastery Progress: 0.09% (Restrained due to Difficulty)]

[Monstrous Instincts - Mastery Progress: 59% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Monstrous Physique - Mastery Progress 68% (Obtained due to Inherent Trait)]

[Uncertain Swordsmanship - Mastery Progress: 14% (Obtained Due to Skill @#$$&@!)]

As usual, the progress of his inherent trait and skill were quite slow. But in comparison, all three others had shot up quite a bit, after all, he had significantly relied on them to continue to survive.

He turned to Laura and, with a neutral but somewhat embarrassed expression, he began talking. ''Hey Laura.'' She turned away from already burning fire and bird meat steaks she was cooking over the fire with some sticks. ''I kind of forgot or kind of didn't trust you fully, yet I guess, so I hadn't told you of my abilities, despite you doing so for me.'' She was sitting down in anticipation and relief that she hadn't the need to somehow ask anymore.

''My abilities are basically my instincts and my body, that you probably noticed, is much better than that of your average Joe. But there is one last thing, my sword has a different effect depending on when I swing as I activate this skill, thus sometimes It's just plain useless while others can be life-saving. The thing is I have no way but instinct to tell what's next, and even that way it isn't that precise.''

Laura pondered for a moment, now suddenly many of Jacks previous actions were more or less explained, as It was either the skill backfiring or it being a hit. She bowed in thanks for the information she had been entrusted with, then she took advantage of the soft surface of the mushroom platform to ask him about his former training as to her, he seemed someone good at fighting despite having next to no knowledge.

''Oh that? It's because as soon as I awakened I was thrown in here, with no time to even explore my skills at all. How fucking unfair is that?''

That nonchalant statement shocked Laura to the core, the reason was simple she had been taught in the academy that the weaker the blooded was as he awakened the longer it took for him to be forced into his first dungeon. But that was not just it, her sister, one of the most powerful and talented blooded her big shot family had ever seen... had taken 6 months to be transported. To some of the teachers, the reason for this delay was almost as if for a universal balancing of sorts, so that the strong wouldn't monopolize the gains and cut off the buds of some flourishing talents. Either that or the very opposite, and the world was actively trying to cut off said talents.

''So in summary, I come from a no-prestige background and had no education other than the basics and fighting.''

Even she, who had a disability felt and wasn't dealt any better of a hand, felt for him. As being thrown into this hell of a dungeon, with no prior information on directions, survival and even the dungeons and system itself should've been beyond scary.

She gestured him to come closer and as he did, she gave him some of the ready food. He awkwardly looked at her then sat beside her, eating when she gestured to the ground, holding her small hunting knife. Then, taking advantage of the soft mushroom surface, wrote:

''Levels of blooded:'' To which Jack's eyes widened in surprise as she herself wanted to teach him the information that might save his life one day.

Laura summarized the info for him and basically told him that there were five levels of blooded: First was the awakened, people who just got their skills to its most basic capacities and were to be sent to their first dungeon. Second, were the warriors, those who successfully survived their first dungeon and had gained the immense power boost that came with it, thus receiving permission from the government to enter and conquer dungeons. Third were the blooded lords, who had conquered many dungeons, including one known as the nightmare, which was a rare dungeon type that replayed events of ancient civilizations from the most varied of worlds. Fourth, there were the blooded kings, who had long become true rulers of the earth on behalf of their unspeakable power and could even start their own lineage. Lastly were the blooded saints, who could, at this point, be considered actual ascended who transcended humanity itself. Finally, she told him that in between each larger rank, there were smaller ones that went from one to seven stars, indicated by the small asterisk after his blooded level.

All this information was extremely valuable, as Jack hadn't even noticed the small asterisk after his blooded status. She went on about explaining many things such as the classification of beasts that went: danger, death, fallen, disaster and cataclysm. Also bridged by the same number of stars in between each major level.

''I see, then what about the dungeon we are in right now? What level would it be?'' He asked, trying to get a better grip on the dangers to come.

She looked at him with some sadness, then circled the death category.

Jacks eyes widened in frustration and rage. ''Holly shit are we unlucky!'' he said in an exasperated tone. ''In our very first dungeon we are already way out of our league...''

Laura then wrote in the mushroom that at this point was a tapestry of explanations. ''Most beasts here are from danger level, but there are many in the death level and even one or two extremely rare occurrences in the fallen level. But the worst part is that the difficulty of the environment is of the death level, due to the altitude.'' She ended her lecture by answering a few of his last questions, and soon both of them were preparing to got sleep.

Jack was just relaxing, listening to the soft hum of the mushrooms and the river whilst looking at the sky, while Laura was absorbing the blood she had on her flask. When she was done, she noticed the young hero was already passed out from exhaustion.

She wondered about him for a bit. ''Not everyone is willing to trust so much in someone they had just met, yet it had come so naturally to both of us...'' Thinking that they didn't even know each other 24 hours ago was mind-boggling, as it felt that they already went through a lot together.

Even if she knew he had his secrets, she also was pretty sure, at this point, that he was trustworthy.

Filled with a bigger sense of purpose, she decided on being in the lookout for as long as she could to give him his much earned rest.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of the night. A few hours in, Laura was starting to feel too sleepy for comfort and was about to wake him up when suddenly, his eyes shot open and his body jerked upright.

''Something is here.'' he whispered.

Laura didn't understand what made him wake up like that, but it definitely wasn't good.

As to the reason he woke up so worried, it was partially because of his instincts, of course, but not all. He... had heard something. It started with a light whimpering noise, then grew to full-on cries and roars. Yet there was something amiss with it—a strange, unnatural tone added to the already pretty unnatural noises of the beasts that inhabited the forest.

That's when something much more terrifying resounded in the woods: ''Oh god! Someone, please help me!''

He felt his blood run cold and immediately went to Laura, grabbing her head and bringing it down to the ground, doing the same himself. She tried to resist a bit, but when she saw his face of abject horror and how he had gotten down too, she assumed some sound had gotten him riled up.

They waited for a few moments when, in the distance, Laura spotted something moving, it was a regular leopard monster with folded wings on its back. ''Crap, if he has wings, he would be able to see us if he's in midflight! Furthermore, it appears to have at least four power stars...'' she reasoned.

But the thing seemed to have no interest in flying, keeping to the ground while intently looking around.

''M-Monster!!'' Jack heard an echoing voice in the woods, but he knew it wasn't from him or Laura. Recognizing that the voice had the same eerie feeling he had felt before, he kept his guard up.

The leopard, on the other hand, was drawn to the human-like sounds because it was hungry.It walked slowly and stealthily in the direction of the voice until it reached what appeared to be a small hill beside the river with an abundance of particularly red fungi on it.

That's when it started moving at breakneck speed, with no warning.

Unfurling an enormous stinger that was camouflaged as a mushroom on its back and opening up two huge pincers on each side, it revealed its scorpion-like nature. The leopard had barely any time to react as it was grabbed in the air after it had leaped in surprise with a growl.

The stinger immediately punctured the sky-leopard and began draining it of its blood as it squirmed in pain and terror.

The pair was frozen solid in fear; this fungi-infected creature was strong, stronger even than the larger ones they had seen in the earlier battle.

When the monster scorpion had finished draining its unfortunate prey of all blood, it began to inject something into the corpse. After a few minutes, it dropped the corpse on the floor and then did something that shook Jack to his core.

It growled, just like the leopard had done when grabbed by the abomination's pincers, but with that weird, uncanny tone.

And just like that, the now-dead leopard began to glow red, as fungi growths spread like wildfire throughout its body.

Then it stood up.