Katelyn.
Katelyn—blinked, dazed, yes, but also—well, no, mainly she was just disoriented…
Voices carried through the practical daylight before her. Sounds that she might have mistaken for words of another nguage, interspaced by grunts and screeching that rang like a chorus of insanity.
Unseen objects were smashed and rattled, and people just beyond her gaze were cheering and jeering... All the while, the flicker of yet more fire, though in greater quantity, bathed Katelyn's surface in its warm hue.
Unsure of the situation, Katelyn rose on her stubby not-legs and crept towards the entrance to spy on... hmm...
Goblins.
At least, she assumed they were goblins… they were certainly small, unwashed, and barbaric-looking… Most were dressed in the untreated hide, naked save their waists and the occasional bit of rusted, ill-fitting armor.
Some were wielding clubs, others knives that ranged from crude kitchen implements to longer castle-forged examples of decidedly poor quality.
They seemed to dance around the roaring fire, ughing while tearing chunks off what looked like a poorly roasted boar on makeshift spits. Bones being cast aside as they ate, a few even fighting with each other over shinier bobbles they lorded over others with kingly prerogative.
It was a sight as though born from a bad movie, she decided... Observing longer than the situation otherwise might call for simply to confirm her initial judgment.
It was as though somebody had given the creatures the illusion of free will, yet, time and time again, she continued to observe the same occurrences transpire. There was some randomness to it all, sure, but none of the creatures seemed to leave their small cavern.
None moved to stand guard over their camp or really tend to the meal beyond occasionally stripping it of flesh, and even that was somewhat bizarre to observe as they did much more waving with the food in their hands than actual eating...
They were—living by the best of her approximation, but either immensely simple or just that foolish.
She didn't think that any sapient creature who had managed to harness fire would be at a stage where they were surrounded by the darkness; they were utterly disinterested in any form of security or the like, but perhaps Katelyn was more paranoid than the average goblin…
Curious, she tried to activate one of her skills, focusing on the nearest creature before a wall of information exploded in her vision!
Species: Cave Goblin (Dungeon spawn).
Name: unavaible.
Age: unavaible.
Height: one-point-two meters.
Sex: female.
Level: three.
Threat rating: zero stars.
"Cave Goblin: Cave Goblins are a subspecies of monstrous creatures reting to orcs, trolls, hobs, and other goblinoid species. Dim, cowardly, and savage, they, much like their forest-dwelling cousins, propagate at significant speeds, causing them to be considered by most of the civilized world as a threat, albeit only in greater numbers.
Often more cunning than many give them credit, Goblins will try to use their superior numbers to overwhelm the foe; however, they are quick to abandon the fight should their prospects appear as anything but victorious."
"That's a lot of information…" Katelyn murmured, pausing a moment to really consider what was being offered to her. "Almost feels like a dictionary entry…"
Then, a curious thought arose, and she wondered if all beings possessed the skill she had or just her. "I mean, assuming the guy I ate had it, then why wouldn't he have used it on me?"
Not entirely willing to just ignore that gring inconsistency, Katelyn no less turned and applied her newfound power to the two chests in the room with her.
The windows that popped up appeared entirely mundane and, dare she say, worthless. The information was little more than a quaint bel denoting them as' chests,' the pop-up of which manifested for her inspection.
Returning her phantasmal focus, she again inspected a different goblin.
Species: Cave Goblin (Dungeon spawn).
Name: unavaible.
Age: unavaible.
Height: one-point-two meters.
Sex: male.
Level: five.
Threat rating: zero stars.
"Cave Goblin; Cave Goblins are a subspecies of monstrous creatures reting to orcs, trolls, hobs and other goblinoid—"
Katelyn closed the window, not really interested in re-listening to the monotonous voice in her head as she regarded the creatures just beyond her cave
. There were six of the little buggers all bouncing around out there, and only one of her.
Mentally, she kicked herself for not having figured the whole identity thing out before she'd scared away the only people she'd yet seen. If they had been, say, level one, then Katelyn would have strode right on out to them with impunity and just started chomping away!
Yet, had they been level—ten then, she wasn't sure how she might fare, outside of an ambush that was.
Turning around, she decided first thing being first, she would be eating the other chests.
"No more bullshit giveaway youts that let people know what's in here." She groused, swallowing the mysteriously resetting loot and finding yet more money and, this time, a ring of minor wisdom.
She fought the urge to try for another attempt at wearing the thing while noting that, apparently, her room had something of a loot table… "Well, now nobody will come in here and piss themselves because some book ruined the whole surprise."
She considered, for a moment, if she should just sit and wait until someone came by. However, a small tidbit of information made her reconsider things. The book the trio had been reading had said that her room only occasionally appeared.
This meant that she possibly got tossed in the toy box for an indeterminate amount of time when everything had gotten dark around her, Kate presuming that whatever was in charge had—reset itself before finally deciding to summon her again. Or, her new ndlord was just fond of hiding shit…
Once more, she gnced at the—thing sitting in front of her cave. It was just rge enough to obscure a dark and unanticipated hole in the wall, and she mused that it was just far enough from the goblins that one blinded by firelight could easily miss her concealed chamber.
How long would she potentially go without anyone finding her?
What was more, how many adventurers were even—around to do so?
Were there some wandering about the dark, even now?
Was the dungeon all one—massive space or sort of pocket dimension…
There were, honestly, just too many questions without readily avaible answers… So, she decided that, for the moment, she'd work with the concept that she might be on her own for a while.
That inevitably brought her attention full circle to the goblins. And specifically, her mind wandered towards considerations of a... culinary persuasion.
...What would they taste like?
She wasn't hungry per se, but just as pizza had proven in her past life when on offer, she was never averse to a little snack so long as she was within her calorie deficit.
Katelyn considered how best to approach the situation. Figuring that, if left to their own devices, the goblins likely wouldn't ever stray from their fire...
That much was clear as, at this point, she'd been watching them for nearly fifteen minutes, and not once had they even remotely given her the notion of interest beyond their small circle.
So, she crept from her little chamber, keeping to the fringes of their camp, stalking the creatures like a hungry lioness, waiting for the opportune moment before rattling her lid once seated and situated in what instinctually felt like the perfect spot.
Several of the creatures immediately paused, gncing in her direction with pointed interest, yet nothing more.
After a few moments, they simply lost focus on her, their feasting continuing onwards.
Frowning, Katelyn lifted herself before dropping with force, creating a much louder bang, this time meant to genuinely cause a stir! Again, the creatures stopped, looked, and then carried on, clearly without caring.
That was annoying...
It was then that Katelyn began to wonder if she couldn't just—walk up and start gnawing on the stupid things... Earnestly questioning if she was being far too careful about it all.
Living or otherwise, they seemingly weren't interested in her despite looking as she did. For all their fighting over tiny coins, at least, from what she could see, she'd—assumed at least one might be curious about a freaking treasure chest sitting all unguarded and ready to be plundered!
Still, she wasn't quite yet willing to try and wander into their midst.
So. Katelyn carefully took a coin from her stash and hurled it with her tongue, rapidly retreating her true form back inside her shell, much like a tortuous, as she watched the tiny copper piece bounce into their light.
Immediately, the goblins reacted this time, half of them diving at the coin while the others took advantage of this newest distraction to outright burgle the possessions of their peers.
Much squawking and screeching followed, some minor scrapes and sore feelings, but, by the end, order, or whatever they might call it, was restored.
Amused at the dancing monkeys she'd created for herself, Kate chucked another copper piece, having possession of several hundred as it stood, and enjoyed watching the preceding shenanigans.
Her entertainment, however, grew stale after a while, and, in doing so, she returned to the problem at hand.
The next time she threw a coin, Katelyn had already purposefully id out a small line leading back to her. Marveling at how only one of the creatures seemed to even notice the gleaming crumb trail, its peers were too busy screaming at each other for the singur copper.
With malevolent anticipation, Katelyn watched as the tiny goblin approached her person, happily plucking coins from the floor before, in no time at all; it knelt before her, gleefully collecting its prize, even as Katelyn's salivating jaws unhinged.
Looking up, the monster eyed her with its beady red gaze, and yet, her ruse, confusingly, wasn't foiled by her own excitement... And, to her utter shock, the creature merely shrugged at her and turned away.
Her tongue had something to say regarding its disinterest!
And, with a horrid sequel of panic, Katelyn snapped the small monster into her eagre jaws, munching happily upon its filing form until teeth, each nearly ten centimeters in length and fiendishly sharp, punctured something too vital to withstand the trauma and, just like that, the creature stilled.
A moment of concern tried to push through her abject delight as she ate her fill, feeling entirely like the cat who'd caught the mouse! All the same, the creature's kin, having heard her victim's cries, seemed to slowly congregate toward her.
They moved as one towards Katelyn, even as she quickly snapped up the remainder of her meal before she reevaluated her situation, finding herself being hemmed in as they closed.
Yet, just as she was preparing herself for a fight, mind whirling with anticipation, the collection of creatures just—looked her over.
Oh, they definitely saw her, however, though they stared, and though they kept their distance, none so much as threatened.
Instead, after a brief and frankly inadequate investigation, they all seemed to grow bored, returning to their little—party without a care in the world… Now wholly uninterested that one of their numbers had vanished...
"So, you're all cool with me just—eating you then?" Katelyn murmured, baffled that she wouldn't even be getting a sp on the wrist for her btant gluttony...
I mean, she'd gotten away with some pretty crazy things before with little else than a flutter of her eyeshes and a pout, but... this... hahahahah... What even was this?
The absolute grin of delighted amusement that spread across her cheeks would undoubtedly have made them ache! This was just too perfect... It was like her own little pyground-buffet hybrid! And she didn't even have to pay...
Still, she resisted the urge to simply repeat as she'd previously done to entice another to her maw.
Instead, this time, spitting out one of the chests which she then pced directly beside herself, making yet another loud noise to garner some attention. All in the name of science, of course.
This time, when the gazes came her way, there was an uproar of madness!
They all raced to her location, smacking and tripping over each other to get to the empty chest she'd id out, very clearly reacting to its presence and more than just a little excited.
Naturally, it was the rgest of the bunch that managed to win out over all her peers. The little gobliness savage existing at the lofty height of level seven.
She browbeat all others around her until they pissed off with dejection, not straying too far so and braying at the fringes of some priorly established limits like circling hyenas, unwilling to test the waters of their stronger kin but not giving up entirely.
Katelyn was shocked, regardless of it happening for a second time in a row, as she watched the creature totally ignore her, completely uninterested in her presence and the danger it entailed.
She ate this goblin as well, though, this time, in doing so, she apparently stepped upon some line in the sand...
Howling in terror as she crunched bone and shredded flesh while her victim screamed at and batted at her sides, the others abruptly broke and ran away, wailing in terror and abandoning their camp.
"So…" She burped, urbane voice marred by her utter ck of manners, the young woman taking a moment to review her findings. "They don't care about me unless they see me actually eat one of them? Or, maybe it has more to do with them seeing one of their own being eaten…
Maybe it has nothing to do with me at all… They certainly don't care if I'm—around and being polite… but they also obviously don't see me as actual treasure…"
She mulled that over in her head for a time. Wondering about it until a sort of theory emerged. If she were a dungeon monster, and they were all dungeon monsters, then wouldn't it make sense that they didn't—care about each other?
Maybe…
However, that sort of alluded to a kind of hive-mind situation going on, or at least some sort of innate mentality deeply ingrained in their core being…
"Actually…" She whispered, frowning when she thought about it. "Did I even get any experience?"
So saying, she gnced at both of her pages, staring at the semi-filled experience bar that she'd noted before, yet neither had increased.
That was somewhat disappointing… even if they seemed perfectly adequate as food, it really was too bad she couldn't double dip...
Admittedly somewhat annoyed, Katelyn checked in on her inventory on the off chance the creatures had anything interesting on them and found two rather—odd anomalies.
While she did seem to possess whatever articles of clothing and personal belongings they'd had on them when devoured, there were two more notable additions to her growing hoard that immediately caught her eye.
"(Minor monster core). The essence of a dungeon monster that serves as its artificial soul. Crush to gain its power."
"Well, alright then..." Katelyn ughed, her sour mood rebounding as she quickly procured one of the dull grey spheres and cracked it with her tongue!
Immediately, she felt a rush of warmth, but not with her body… Instead, her—spiritual self, for the first time, got a taste of something tangible.
Her status screens were open a moment ter, and while her monster page was unchanged, her Kate page had doubled its currently banked experience, the bar nearly filling to a full quarter!
"But, nothing for monster me as well?" She commented, again, focusing on the other page where her mimic self had been decidedly excluded.
Her first thought was that much in the same way the monsters weren't interested in her, little would be apparently gained by killing other dungeon creatures. And yet, she had two status pages.
One wherein she was a monster, and the other—still human?
No, that didn't feel right, but maybe her soul was still human... for whatever that was worth... Either way. It didn't make much sense to her… not yet anyway…
What she really needed was a helpful dump of exposition, maybe a little backstory and history to it all so she might put the pieces together… Sadly, any such aid to arrive either by god or whatever else existed between herself and any form of universal administration was not forthcoming.
T-though she couldn't really compin, she was, if nothing else, a competent individual in most all aspects of her life, and she did not need her hand held in this.
Still, Kate couldn't help but wonder after all the different tales and takes of system interfaces wherein the plucky hero got their own personal... well, fairy or information-bitch that accompanied them...
She'd have rather liked to have a small creature to boss around and demand answers from, like a personal assistant!
What was abundantly clear to her, however, was what she saw as a wonderfully gring exploit.
She could harvest the dungeon's creatures with impunity, feeding her monster self while leveling her Kate self. It was not at all a bad bargain, considering her situation.
Idly, she fussed over the goblins ir, poking around a bit here and there before finding a rather—small pile of treasures sort of kicked under a pile of detritus.
Nothing more than a sack of coins and what looked like polished bck stones that came up as onyx when she swallowed them.
Certainly, no 'wow factor' to be observed, but, as she was coming to realize, Kate was something of a loot whore... There wasn't much reason for her to keep picking up more coins, given how many she already had and that it was, at the moment, wholly worthless beyond bait.
And yet, she felt a kind of stimuting thrill in herself while swelling as many goodies as she could get her hands on...
Was that, perhaps, like the hunger? A lingering remnant of her monstrous body that was affecting her judgment? Possibly... but who cared? Katelyn adored money anyway.
Given that she didn't exactly need any form of the light source, her phantasmal self able to see perfectly well in the dark, if not through muted shadings of bck and white, the young monster figured a little healthy exploration wouldn't really hurt anything, especially since she was rather mobile as of te.
The reality of what was, in her mind, a short walk through what could be said to be her new home was quickly sidetracked, however, as she came into contact with yet another goblin camp.
Like the st one, this example was within a rger section of the cave system, a narrower and winding tunnel leading from one open space to the next in a decidedly linear fashion.
Just as before, the creatures present were goblins; however, unlike st time, there was an air of—apprehension about the space.
She crept as slowly and quietly as she could while the creatures in her gaze now numbered a near dozen, all waiting as though in ambush, weapons drawn, muscles wound and ready to spring, each of them facing her direction.
It was eerie how utterly silent they were, hardly a breath upon the air as they crouched, knelt, or hid, typically quite poorly for her visual acuity, behind what—savage artwork was present.
Tentatively, she banged her lid again, paying close attention to the nearest goblin who did, in point of fact, see her in the darkness, its ruby gaze staring directly at her—but, as before, the scrutiny wasn't to st.
"Fucking weird… I swear, they're like—dolls or something…"
Though, when she really thought about it, maybe that phrase wasn't too far from the truth of it. Artificial soul sort of held not only nefarious connotations but implications that the creatures before her weren't totally real or even at all natural…
For all Kate knew, this—thing that she was inside and currently residing within was all but three-dimensionally printing everything like some cosmic horror mashed up with alien technology...
Or maybe there was some wizard hiding behind the scenes, and this was all his—experimental fabrication facility…
"They do taste pretty good, though…" Katelyn noted, putting the prior thought upon the rear burner.
Not knowing when her next meal might be or if one day soon she'd need to rely upon her boxy pudge to survive a cold and long winter without food, Katelyn retreated back into the darkness of the pathway.
Again, she gently pced an empty chest beside herself, giving her own lid a little cck to regain the nearest goblins' notice.
And, as it peered in her direction, the telltale glint of greed entered its gaze as it spied what y beside her. For the first time, Kate noted a discernible elevation in cautious behavior in the goblin's approach.
Despite it being a mere level two, it still peered around itself, carefully creeping forwards as though to hide its movements not only from intruders but its own kin.
She wasted no time in gobbling the creature whole. Not pying around as she had before and aiming her tongue directly at its face. She felt it try to scream… but, hmph!… Smothered as it was by the bulbous appendage, it didn't quite reach more than a muffled outcry…
Its body was yanked clear into the depths of her stomach without much by way of resistance. Her lid merrily chewed as she appreciated all the delicate fvors she was experiencing, almost for the first time!
She'd managed three cores now, each of differing sizes, which she assumed indicated their potential power. As the first creature she'd eaten was level five, at least where goblins were concerned, she assumed the level seven core would be quite profitable while this test addition would be somewhat ckluster…
Since none of the absent-minded ambushers were paying her much heed, she popped the cores she still held and managed to just reach the next threshold, entering her soul's third level.
Again, she got eight more stat points, though, unlike before, she wasn't so sure of where they should go.
Endurance felt good enough as it was... However, that was only because she hadn't come up against a real challenge yet…
Likewise, putting anything that wouldn't affect her monster body was—pointless… for now, at least.
Agility or strength seemed like attractive options as well; yet, if she were to rule one out, if she had to, it would be agility for no other reason then she felt plenty mobile for the time being.
It wasn't like she needed to run after her prey! No, she was unequivocally an ambush predator. Thus, while gaining the ability to move around had been great, she earnestly didn't see the need for anything more significant than what her current mobility allowed for.
Thus, she split the eight points evenly between strength and endurance, nearly adding an entire third to the former while endurance reached a score that made her feel, if nothing else, artificially safer.
She lured a handful more goblins using her thus far clever trick, managing five more cores before the creatures, once more, abandoned their post and retreated further into the cave.
There was no screaming this time around, the monster's more silent departure feeling almost like a tactical retreat... The conscious decision of some—entity that was watching them and running raw numbers through a calcution of odds.
Surely, had Kate been in such a situation, assuming she wasn't just anthropomorphizing it all if she'd seen half her forces disappear to some creature beyond the scope of purview, then she'd have done the same.
Now, whether the dungeon, if indeed it was controlling things, saw her to begin with or just couldn't, by its very nature, consider one of its own monsters a threat, she didn't know.
What she did know, however, was that she wasn't done.
She cleared a third camp as much as the first two, gaining nine more cores, which she used in conjunction with the others to reach halfway through level five. Sinking the majority of her points into endurance and strength until she could literally sweep a goblin off its feet and directly into her void without so much as an expended effort.
Given all the souls she consumed, Katelyn was disappointed that five was as far as she'd reached. However, by the same token, she wasn't exactly—unsurprised by the presence of diminishing returns.
Lower levels were easy, higher ones more difficult. Nothing new per se, even for her... Yet, it was annoying in a certain greedy light, nevertheless.
As it happened, her murderous spree of delicious snacking did manage to finally stall. The thus far, experience-rich environment came up against its first real hiccup when she silently arrived at the fourth camp...
