Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Crippled

New skill gained: Pain tolerance
Pain is essential for letting you know when you're injured, when something is wrong, or simply when you've pushed yourself too far and need to stop. At least in small doses. Sometimes you already know exactly what's wrong, in which case the pain is nothing more than a distraction. This skill dulls the sensations of debilitating pain and slightly weakens the effect of magical pain.

I awoke to more words floating in my vision, clearly legible despite my addled state of mind and closed eyes. The description was spot on; I did know exactly what was wrong. A fricking monster had bitten my leg off! The pain was far worse than anything I'd ever experienced back on Earth, and I was really glad the effectiveness reduction didn't apply to this one. Now, if only I had a few more dozen levels of it...

More importantly, at least I was still in a position to feel pain at all. Why was I alive? With the amount of blood I'd lost, surely I shouldn't be. The red smudge at the bottom of my vision was barely visible. Why didn't my status display health?

Name: Katie
- Combat skills -
Unarmed dabbler: Level 1
- Resistance skills -
Fear tolerance: Level 3
Pain tolerance: Level 1

Despite my situation, I couldn't resist a mirthless chuckle. Easy mode? Fun? What the heck was I thinking? This wasn't the sort of adventure I had in mind. Isekai protagonists aren't supposed to end up crippled in their first fight!

Maybe the only reason I was alive was my life-not-in-danger wish. Maybe I could be injured, but never die. Would I end up a decapitated head, trying to bite the monsters to death? I took the opportunity to shudder, while I still had enough body left to do so. That was not a future I wanted.

So, current situation. I was crippled, naked, anaemic and alone. I was thirsty, but my water source was guarded by a gigantic fanged wolf thing. Hungry too, although that at least I could do something about. The corpse of my first kill was still there, and I didn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from eating a mouthful of it. I peeled off the shell and ate whatever bits of the insides didn't look too icky while pondering my next move.

I must have been out for a while, given how hungry and thirsty I was. I couldn't rely on my life not being in danger, so there really wasn't much choice in what to do next. If I went back to the cavern, I'd be eaten. If I stayed here, I'd die of thirst, assuming my leg was stable. If it wasn't, I'd die regardless. My only option was to follow the passageway in the opposite direction, and pray that it came out somewhere more hospitable. Shouty-guy didn't seem to doubt the existence of the Goddess, and my blessing and the barrier seemed real, so praying might help, right?

"Hey, Goddess! If you're listening, do something about this!" I shouted, hearing nothing but the buzzing of beetles taking flight in response.

I pushed the torn remains of my nightie up against the dampest section of wall, in the hopes it might absorb some moisture. I doubted it would work, but in case I couldn't find any unguarded water outside, I needed at least some sort of backup plan. Once it was in place, I started crawling back outside of my safe room.

It hurt! Dammit! Every move I made, I stretched the stump of my leg, or scraped it against the floor. Should I use the rest of the nightie as extra wrapping?

Pain tolerance advanced to level 2

No, it wouldn't achieve much beyond slowing me down. I needed to get to the other end of the passage as quickly as possible and hope that against all the odds I'd find something there that would save me.

I dragged myself through the narrow passage, this time along the left-hand branch. It was mostly the same as the first, patches of moss providing a dull light, along with the occasional beetle, this time thankfully above my head and out of my reach, given that I was dragging myself across the floor.

After ten long, painful minutes, the passage again opened up, but this time into a very different sort of chamber, causing me to stop and stare. For a start, it was far better lit; not bright, but enough to clearly see the whole room. Glowing moss was a little strange, but I could accept it. This time the light was coming from a tree, every leaf on its branches glowing a pale white. It had a wide, circular trunk that extended up a number of metres without a single branch or twig before mushrooming out into a wide, symmetric canopy. The bark was silver, and was glistening in the light of the leaves, the net result looking positively angelic in its beauty. Back on Earth, vegetation used light as its energy source. Here it seemed to produce it.

With the light from the tree, I could see this chamber was dome shaped, with a pool at the centre, the tree growing out of its middle with its base underwater. There was the usual moss on the walls, and around the pool was more vegetation of several non-glowing varieties. There were stubby, leafless bushes, coloured flowers that seemed to grow directly from the rock, and even the occasional enormous mushroom, as tall as I was. Well, as tall as I would be, if I were standing up.

The beetles were far more numerous in here than out in the passage, but still not threatening. What gave me pause were three other creatures. With six legs and chitinous, bulbous bodies, they may well have been beetles too, but these were the size of a large dog, and each one had a vicious-looking horn sticking out between their eyes on their wide, flat heads.

They were scattered around the room, and the closest one had noticed my arrival, turning to face me. The remaining two were grazing on the ground level plants. Even the one that spotted me wasn't giving any signs of being aggressive. More... wary. Were these safe, or would they attack if I got too close? In my current condition, I didn't fancy my chances if one of them decided I was a threat.

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On the other hand, if I could tear off one of those horns, I'd bet it would make a usable weapon, and their shells would be more protective than trying to use the smaller beetles. I chose the wrong passage first. I should have picked this one, dammit! Or rather, once I came out in the large, dark cavern, I should have backtracked to see what was on this side. I hadn't been so thirsty as to need to risk rushing into the unknown immediately. I had trusted that there would be no dangerous monsters, despite having no evidence for it but my own interpretation of my wish.

Lamenting my poor life choices, I prepared to crawl again. I didn't really have any choice; I needed water, and this pool looked safer than the brook, or trying to lick the damp walls. Then again, the dog-sized beetles may not be the only threat here; The pool looked stagnant, with no obvious inlets or outflow, and while the water looked clean, looks could be deceiving, especially from this distance and in the low light. Or, knowing my luck, the pool could be filled with laser-wielding sharks.

I dragged myself further forward, trying to leave a wide berth between me and the closest large beetle, which was swivelling around to keep both eyes on me, but otherwise didn't move. I distracted myself from the pain of movement by deciding on some better names for those things than little beetle and large beetle, particularly since the little ones weren't actually little. Munchers, for the smaller ones, given the cute noise they made while eating. What about the big ones? Let's just go for horned beetle. Not very imaginative, but a hundred percent accurate.

Reaching the water, I was pleased to find that it was crystal clear, and contained no sharks, laser-wielding or otherwise. In fact, it didn't contain anything living, aside from the roots of the central tree, which snaked and criss-crossed around the basin like a woven mat. It even managed to smell enticing, although that might have just been my thirst talking. I did see the remains of some munchers laying at the bottom, but with the number of them around here, it was no surprise that some of them died over the water. Was it too soon to think I was having a bit of good luck at last?

I carefully scooped up a small handful to taste, then immediately spat it back out. Yup, it had been too soon. This wasn't water; it tasted sweet. Thank goodness I'd been cautious enough to scoop out a small amount, and not just shove my face in the pool. Was the tree releasing some sort of sugar into it? What for?

New skill gained: Poison tolerance
Poison is everywhere. It may be in the darts of an assassin looking to score a silent kill. In the traps of a hunter. In the fangs or claws of a predator. Even in the flesh of would-be prey. Any adventurer needs to be prepared for it if they wish to survive. This skill slightly reduces the effects of natural, artificial and magical poisons, and aids your body in expelling or breaking down the toxins more quickly.

Shit! I realised with alarm that my mouth was going numb. I hadn't swallowed any of the stuff, but I wasn't exactly at my strongest right now. I looked again at the munchers at the bottom of the pool, and it finally occurred to me that I wasn't looking at corpses at all. They were mere empty shells! I could see straight through the eyeholes, and there was no sign of flesh. Don't tell me this beautiful tree was some sort of carnivore, and this 'pool' was nothing more than a trap. Like a giant pitcher plant... It wasn't water, it was nectar! Poisonous nectar.

I struggled to pull myself back from the edge, finding with alarm that my arms were shaking, and that I couldn't push with my normal strength. How potent was that stuff? I hadn't even drunk any of it! And yet the pool was full of so much of it... The horned beetle was still staring at me, and despite not having the relevant parts of a face to form an expression, I couldn't help but imagine that it was mocking me. I rolled over onto my back at the pool's edge before bursting into mirthless laughter for the second time.

So, this was it. Whether I recovered from the poison or not, my adventure was over; there was no water I could access. What a ridiculous farce. Well, like I thought right back at the start, I was a university student with no physical or survival training whatsoever. Maybe I wasn't summoned to another world at all, this was all just a terrible dream, and soon I'd be waking up back at home. That would be nice. But, hopeless as my situation was, I wasn't going to give up just yet. I could... I dunno, try to kill some of the munchers in here? Maybe the rules of this adventure included a full heal on level up? Then go back to my little cave and try to get enough water from the walls to survive. It was a long shot, but at least my situation couldn't get any worse.

When I heard the splash of liquid, I had just enough time to berate myself for even thinking such a dangerous thing before I felt something wrap itself around my one remaining ankle. I looked down to see the tree roots nearby were wriggling. Great, so that tree wasn't just a passive predator, but it could move. I desperately tried to reach down to disentangle myself, but barely had a chance to act before it yanked me, dragging me under the surface of the pool.

I closed my eyes and mouth, but couldn't avoid some amount of the liquid making its way up my nose, numbing my whole face. I grabbed at the root, desperately trying to pull myself free, but despite how flexible it seemed when the tree was moving it, it didn't bend for me at all, even when I pulled with all of what was left of my poison-sapped strength. I felt myself bump against the base of the pool, and immediately felt more wriggling as multiple roots started climbing over my legs and waist, binding me to the ground.

Fear tolerance advanced to level 4

The skill wasn't enough to stop my blind panic as more roots twisted around my arms, pulling them backwards and leaving me lying flat on my back, spread-eagled, allowing even more of the things to crawl over my head and torso. Aside from wriggling my fingers and toes, I had no movement whatsoever, and however hard I tugged, there was no give in my bonds. My skin simultaneously felt like it was burning and freezing, presumably due to the effects of being submerged in the poison, and more roots underneath me were digging painfully into my back.

So, this was my end. I'd avoided being eaten by the fanged wolf, only to be eaten by a tree. A bloody tree! If I hadn't been at the bottom of a pool of liquid, I'd have burst into laughter yet again at the sheer stupidity of it. I struggled as best as I could, to no avail. Then one of the questing roots found my torn leg, prodding the wound, and that caused me to scream in pain despite my position, involuntarily expelling the last of the air from my lungs.

Pain tolerance advanced to level 3

With my mouth forced open, I immediately started to choke on the sweet nectar. The sweet numbing nectar. I hurt so much, and the solution to all my pain was so easy... Realistically, there was no escape from this, so why not give in? What was the point in drawing out my pain for longer? Resigning myself to my fate, I swallowed great gulps of the stuff, the numbing sensation swiftly enveloping my whole body, leaving me completely paralysed and ending my struggles once and for all. Now I couldn't even move my fingers, but all of my pains, even my roughly amputated leg, faded away like they were never there, replaced by a blissful unfeeling emptiness.

From the pressure in my chest, followed by a burst of wrongness throughout my whole body, it seemed that even my heart had been paralysed. That would be a quicker and more merciful end than drowning, I suppose. And thanks to the nectar, even my stopped heart didn't hurt. My consciousness was already slipping, so I simply relaxed and let it go, embracing my own inevitable death.

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