Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Respawn

Poison tolerance advanced to level 2

I gasped for air, the sensation of drowning, pinned to the bottom of the poisonous pool, still at the forefront of my memory. I was alive! I was in air! How?!

I scrambled to pull myself off the ground and back to my feet. Wait... Feet. Plural. I grabbed at my missing leg, only to find it a hundred percent present and correct. And I was wearing my nightie again, which was whole despite me having torn it up earlier. Had it all been a horrible dream, after all? Then why had I woken up on hard ground, and not back in my bed? No, I could still see the coloured smudges at the bottom of my vision, now thankfully containing rather more red than I'd had a few seconds earlier. Status!

Name: Katie
- Combat skills -
Unarmed dabbler: Level 1
- Resistance skills -
Fear tolerance: Level 4
Pain tolerance: Level 3
Poison tolerance: Level 2

Where was I? After the relative brightness of the carnivorous tree's room, it took my eyes a while to readjust, but it soon became obvious that I was back in my starting cave. So, that was how my wish for my life to not be in danger had actually been implemented. I respawned! I had an infinite lives cheat! The realisation caused me to burst out in laughter again, falling over onto my butt. It was rather painful given that the ground was made from rock, but I just couldn't help myself. I was doing a lot of that sort of mad laughter recently. I'd not even been here for long yet, and I already suspected I was going a little insane. Well, I'd literally just died. I could be forgiven a little insanity.

I spotted something white out of the corner of my eye, turning to find the torn remains of my nightie scrunched up against the wall. As expected, it hadn't soaked up anywhere near enough water for me to be able to drink from, but the bigger question was why it was there when I was also wearing it. I looked around, and sure enough, the half-eaten corpse of the beetle I'd killed earlier was there too. So the world wasn't reset when I died. I got to keep all of my hard-earned skills, too. And I had an item duplication cheat, but only for items I had on me when I entered, which consisted of the sum total of one comfortable but not exactly hard-wearing nightie. Now I really wished I'd been sucked in on my way back from picking up the sword. Holy swords for all! Eat that, demons!

Out of morbid curiosity, I made my way back to the murder tree's room. Sure enough, the three horned beetles were still there, grazing. The tree was still glowing, although now to my eyes it looked more smug than beautiful. I gave it a long glare. "Don't think you're going to get away with that!" I shouted at it, causing the horned beetles to all look up at me. "If I ever get my hands on a fireball spell or something, I'm coming right back here!"

I made my way to the edge of the pool, where I'd been pulled in, and yup, sure enough, there I was. Bone was already visible in places, my skin already completely dissolved and my corpse generally looking very unhealthy. I promptly threw up into the pool. The deceptively pretty tree would probably just treat that as more food, but I felt that the sight of my own half-digested body warranted some amount of regurgitation.

I backed away before the murder tree got any more bright ideas, and stopped to ponder a bit more. When I'd looked just now, there were no signs of active digestion, yet from my point of view, it had only been a handful of minutes between when I 'died' and when I got back here. It couldn't possibly have done that much damage to my corpse within a few minutes without me being able to see the process in action when watching. There was time missing. My conclusion was that there had been a time lag between my death and respawn. Probably not too long, given that everything else in the pool was picked completely clean, and I still wasn't, suggesting it didn't take very long to digest prey, but it was certainly more than a few minutes.

That was interesting, but not particularly relevant right now. I needed a new plan now that I was healthy again. My first goal would be getting past the fanged wolf and securing a water source that didn't try to eat me. I wouldn't be able to punch that wolf to death; it was faster than me, and had bitten clean through my leg, bones and all, like it was nothing. I would need weapons, armour and skills. This room offered opportunities for all three. I wasn't sure if the vegetation would be useful, but the horns and shells of the horned beetles looked like they would be.

Of course, I first had to convince them to give them to me, which was certainly going to require violence. A bit of a catch-22; I needed to fight to acquire the materials needed to fight. First of all, I took a slow tour around the room, relieved when nothing else attacked me. I didn't find any other exits, which raised the question of how the horned beetles got in here. Maybe they grew up from the munchers somehow? I also found that none of the vegetation in the room was sturdy enough to use as a weapon. The best I could do was tie some moss to my feet to at least give them some protection from the rocky ground. There were a lot of munchers around though, and thus began phase one of my strategy. I tied some moss around my right hand too, like some sort of improvised boxing glove, then started my genocide.

Unarmed dabbler advanced to level 2
Unarmed dabbler advanced to level 3
Unarmed dabbler advanced to level 4

An hour later, there were no more munchers operating low enough on the walls for me to reach, and this time my hand came out unharmed. Now on to the horned beetles. I drew near to one, just to see what it would do, only to get loudly hissed at for my troubles. It didn't seem too interested in attacking, but did seem ready to defend itself. Good enough. I peeled away the shell of a muncher, managing to get a sizeable scoop-shaped piece, then used it to pick up a dose of poison. Fist-fight a dog-sized armoured beetle with a giant lance jutting out from its face? Nope, I was more sensible than that.

I walked back up to the horned beetle, waited for it to look up and hiss, then threw my scoop of nectar at its mouth. Some of it went in, but the effect was, alas, not as pronounced as when I'd drunk the stuff. Hopefully, it weakened the beetle at least a little, but mostly it just seemed very angry, stomping the ground a few times, then lowering its head. Drat, incoming charge...

It turned out that the horned beetles had some pretty impressive acceleration. Must come from all those legs. I dived to the side, happy to find that what it had in speed, it lacked in manoeuvrability.

New skill gained: Novice dodger
If someone swings a blade, the smart option is to make sure you're not standing in the way. This skill will improve your ability to do just that, sharpening your instincts and reflexes.

Yes, thank you whoever it was that kept giving me skills; I appreciated them greatly, but having a chunk of my vision taken up by text when I was trying to keep an eye on a charging beetle that was doing its best to kill me was not helpful! It turned around and charged again, and thanks to the distraction, my reactions were a little slow. Luckily, it only hit me with the side of its head, and not its horn, and I managed to keep my balance and stay upright. I'd have a nasty bruise there, but nothing else.

There didn't seem to be any sign of it getting paralysed, so either I hadn't hit it with a big enough dose, or it had some amount of immunity. I had been planning to run back to the crevice and hide if the poison failed, but its inability to slow down or turn once it got going gave me another idea. I backed up against the crevice and waited for the next charge, hoping that this monster's intelligence was on par with its ability to stop. Backing into the crevice just before it hit was a complete success, as its head didn't fit in, crushing it and instantly killing the monster. I'd chosen the crevice rather than a plain wall to avoid damaging the horn, and my strategy was a complete success.

Correction; almost a complete success; the other two horned beetles looked up at the noise and started stamping their feet and hissing in what I now recognised as aggression. Apparently, they took exception to their friend being killed, despite not reacting at all during our... fight wouldn't be entirely accurate, given that I hadn't done anything other than dodge. Altercation? Bullfight? Whatever; as soon as I prised that horn out of its face, the next one would be a real fight.

It was hard... I was right about the bigger beasts' shells being tougher than the munchers, but that just made my job more difficult. I couldn't even drag it into an open space, because there were two horned beetles waiting for my blood outside the crevice, and I couldn't pull it in because it wouldn't fit. In the end I jumped on it, which succeeded in snapping it off at its base, which in turn resulted in me crashing back to the floor, adding a few more bruises to my collection.

Still, I had a weapon now. A half metre long conical horn, with a vicious point at the end. It could do with a proper grip, but I was pretty certain I could stab things with it. I tried it out on a few of the munchers in the crevice, happy to find it pierced through their shells with as much ease as the wolf's fangs had pierced through my leg.

New skill gained: Spear dabbler
Spears give great reach compared to most melee weapons, and at a pinch can even be thrown, but never let your enemies close in. This skill increases your competence when attacking with a spear, and gives a slight damage bonus.

So, apparently this was classed as a spear. Not completely illogical, but I was fairly sure a normal spear would be longer than this. Anyway, while I could just about snap this off while hiding in the crevice, if I wanted to make use of the shell, I was going to need to do something about the other two, which were continuing to hang around just outside, hissing. I started by making my way from one end of the passageway to the other, stabbing the munchers to give myself every edge I could get.

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Spear dabbler advanced to level 2

With the small fry dead, I made my way back to the tree's room, where the horned beetles were still patiently waiting for me. I'd thought they'd have got bored after I left their sight for a bit, but nope. Those beasties could apparently hold a grudge... I tested my spear against the shell of the dead one, but unsurprisingly it didn't pierce through like it did on the munchers. I'd need to aim for the eyes, or other soft targets.

I took a deep breath, then went running out. The horned beetles circled around me rather than charging, which was irritating; I was hoping to lead them into a wall again. In fact, one of them had carefully positioned itself between me and the crevice. Did I underestimate the effect of the poison on the first one? Was he so enraged that he started attacking blindly instead of acting with any cunning?

I needed to get back against a wall; these beetles were keeping one to each side of me, and while whichever one I looked at kept its distance, the one behind me kept inching forwards. If I didn't keep spinning, I'd soon find a horn stabbed into my back. I made a break for the nearest bit of unguarded wall, but as soon as I started running, one of the beetles attacked, catching me in the back of my thigh. Fortunately, although it stung, it didn't seem to be much more than a scratch, and it didn't impede my movement.

Now I could keep both of them in my vision, and didn't need to worry about surprise attacks, but I did need to worry about how the heck I was going to dodge if they both attacked at once.

Of course, they both attacked at once...

I twisted sideways to avoid their horns, which impacted the wall behind me, stopping their charge and preventing them from hitting me with a plain headbutt. I stabbed at one with my own stolen horn, piercing it through the eye and into the brain beyond. It didn't like that one bit, collapsing and convulsing, tearing my spear from my hand and showering me and a wide swath of the landscape with haemolymph.

Novice dodger advanced to level 2
Spear dabbler advanced to level 3

Yay, more skills. I immediately put novice dodger to full use as the final beetle started raging, swinging its horn like some sort of sword. A blow caught me in the side, knocking me against the wall. Thankfully, the horn wasn't bladed, so such attacks would do no more than bruise. At least on their own; it followed up with a stab, and after being knocked and winded by the first blow, I was too slow to dodge it completely. It tore through my side, a little above my hip, running me straight through and piercing slightly into the wall beyond.

I did my best to ignore the sudden pain as the beetle back-pedalled, extracting itself from the wall and from me. It was moving a little slower, and hopefully had just mildly stunned itself by crashing into the wall. As soon as I was free, I raced around it, grabbing at my lost spear and tearing it out of the dead beetle. As the last beetle turned, I was ready for it, stabbing once again deep into its eye and dispatching my final adversary.

Spear dabbler advanced to level 4

How high could these skills go? I did feel some difference as they went up, but it was hardly significant. The dabbler or novice part suggested that levels weren't everything, and there were upgraded versions of the skills available. Would I get them automatically once I reached a certain level in the current skill? Did I need to perform some feat worthy of them? Did I need actual training?

My musings were interrupted by more pain, reminding me that the fight hadn't been completely one-sided. There was surprisingly little blood coming from my stab wound, and it seemed to have missed my kidneys or anything else important. With a bit of treatment, it wouldn't be fatal, but it was certainly nasty, and would seriously impede my ability to fight. Back on Earth it would require stitches, at the very least, but more likely some amount of hospital time. Here, I had neither option. I needed to bandage it, at least. I should use the version of my nightie back in my cave, given that this one was now rather sodden with green beetle juices. For that matter, the stuff was even in my hair. I needed a wash! Why couldn't that glowing tree be sitting in the middle of some sort of magical healing pool rather than a pool of poison?

Wait...

"I can't believe I'm even considering this," I muttered in the general direction of the tree. It was a rather extreme option for dealing with my wound, but it was true that in my current condition I wouldn't be able to put up an effective fight against the wolf, and after being through it once, I knew the experience was not exactly... unpleasant. At least, now that I knew beforehand I'd survive. But I did at least need to prepare first. I took my horn spear back to my cave and left it leaning against a wall. The beetle corpses I dragged over to the crevice, as far away from the tree roots as I could manage. I considered removing my nightie, but given how dirty it was, I doubted I'd have any use for it, even if I duplicated it. Then I returned to the pool. "This doesn't mean I'm forgiving you. I'm still viciously murdering you as soon as I have the means!"

The tree ignored me and continued to look smug.

Hoping that my number of lives truly was infinite, I shoved my head into the pool and gulped down as much of the stuff as I could, enjoying the sweet flavour before the paralysis kicked in. As the numbness spread, taking the pain in my side with it, I barely even felt the root loop around my neck and drag me head-first into the pool. Just like before, more roots wrapped themselves around me, weaving me into the mat that covered the basin.

This time my eyes were frozen open, and I was held looking up out of the pool, the glowing leaves shining above me. Despite being motionless earlier, now they were gently swaying. Because the roots of the tree were moving, and it was shaking the whole thing, perhaps? Despite the tree's murderous nature, it really was very pretty.

Unlike before, I could still feel my heart pounding in my chest, struggling, but still hanging on. I'd drunk even more of the poisonous nectar than last time, so how was my heart still functioning? Did one extra level of poison tolerance make that much difference? Or perhaps inhaling it got it into my bloodstream quicker than swallowing? Too late now; my lungs weren't working. Drat. Now I was going to have to wait multiple minutes to suffocate instead.

Once again, I descended into mad laughter. Purely mental laughter this time, given my paralysed lungs, but the thought was there. Here I was, tightly restrained at the bottom of a poisonous pool, in the middle of being digested by a sparkly murderous tree, and instead of the appropriate panic, I was enjoying the view while considering the most effective and least painful ways to commit suicide... Well, I wished myself a no-consequences game world, so there was no harm in treating it as such, right?

And that was the point at which my heart finally gave out, and I once again fell into the (hopefully brief) embrace of death.

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