SUBCUTANEOUS 1.5

Another chapter. Short one, though- game logic ached me a bit, and this LitRPG stuff needs a lot of note-taking! Hoping to move into the proper horror and dark portents part of the story by end of next chapter.

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Character creation goes faster this time. She goes through the mechanics faster, making a character whose model is similar to but distinct from the last one. In the end, the creature is still the slightly lumpy, oddly-proportioned species that the game calls a ‘Fleshling’, but she’s made some nice modifications.

The feathers that she put on the last model are refined now, covering the forearms, neck, and shins. A sensory tool, and a basic one, but also a way of checking dangers, letting the feathers get the effects of whatever she encounters before her character’s HP bar.

In theory. Probably. It’s a fun experience to consider, and see how it works!

Beyond that, she’s modified the eyes, making them a bit wider, a bit further to the side. In theory, it’s prey that has eyes to the side, while predators keep theirs to the front, but that is an evolutionary tactic, and evolution is a stupid dumb-dumb with no idea what it’s doing. That, and the fact that she still is at least partially prey to the enemies in-game, means that it’s more useful to check on her surroundings rather than hone in on a specific point. For now, at least.

Of course, all of this is assuming, with minimal basis, that the mechanics of the game are complex enough to factor this in. Or that the creators intended for such a thing to be possible. All things told, not a guaranteed proposition in either way, but, once again, there’s really only one way to find out. Besides, it’s not like she saw an FOV slider in the game- maybe they did intend this. Either way, the act is almost meditative, centering herself on the fleshling she’s about to inhabit and the way its mechanics could theoretically work. Engagement with worldbuilding is its own reward, after all!

It’s when she swaps over to the STATS part of the page that she notices something different.

INHERITED TRAITS

ABILITY: SWIPE: A swinging attack, usually open-handed and dependent on claws or strong digits. While there is little chance of lethal damage, it’s better than a slap, even if it’s worse than a claw-attack or punch. Better with the use of additional phenotypes. 

MUTATION: SKIN-DENSITY I: Often considered the bare-minimum standard, a Fleshling’s Skin is so subpar that this mutation only barely brings it up to an average. The density and toughness of your skin increase, reducing acid and fire damage, but at a loss of SENSITIVITY.

There they are. The two character-modifying abilities she unlocked in her last playthrough. 

The first one is basic enough; the Swipe ability was given after a multitude of awkward, fumbling attacks, first with her hands and then with an improvised weapon she crafted. It made the movement more fluid, and, if she had to guess, definitely increased her overall damage output. Definitely not a top-tier game-changer, but the fact that she doesn’t have to retrain the whole thing again is a huge bonus, and turns the early-game experience from a potentially repetitive slog into a roguelike. 

The latter is, if anything, even better than the swipe ability. That one just required playing the game, and didn’t offer more than melee mechanics, but SKIN-DENSITY 1 is a direct upgrade to her survivability, no holds barred. It’s one thing to make a mage build, another to turn down what’s effectively a free hp-multiplier. 

She goes to click on them, selecting them with her cursor, but… 

Hmm.

She switches the focus of her avatar’s movement on the words right above the traits instead. 

INHERITED TRAITS

As she moves her ‘hand’ over it, just as with every other selectable writing she’s managed to find, veins begin to extend out from the words, glowing and forming an all new line of text.

INHERITED TRAITS: THESE ARE ABILITIES, MUTATIONS, INCANTATIONS AND MECHANISMS WHICH CARRY OVER FROM ONE AVATAR TO ANOTHER. THE CHANCES OF THIS OCCURRING ARE MODIFIED BY THE RARITY OF THE TRAITS AT TIME OF FINAL DEATH, AND CAN BE APPLIED TO A NEW AVATAR AT THE COST OF REDUCING ONES ALLOCATABLE STAT POINTS.

Well damn. By the looks of it, since both of her traits were low level (bare minimum tier, according to the still-scathing description of SKIN-DENSITY 1), she gets to keep both of them. Or she theoretically gets to keep both of them.

Switching down to the two traits themselves, she hovers over them to pull out the vein-descriptors and such.

Just like before, she’s started with 18 points to spread between her stats. She hovers over SKIN-DENSITY 1 first. The description pops up easily enough, but this time there’s a numeral hanging right beneath it.

3 points to grab SKIN-DENSITY 1. With a quick check, it’s 2 points to get SWIPE, which seems… honestly not worth it at all, especially since her stats can fall to 0.

A few seconds later, she has her new character’s sheet prepped. 

{MANIFESTATION OF [00000000]}

EXP: 0 (0/???)

GENUS: ESURIATIO AUTONOMIA 

SPECIES: FLESHLING

STATS: 8

• Vitality

  • 1

• Agility

  • 2

• Strength

  • 1

• Endurance

  • 2

• Intelligence

  • 4

• Sensitivity

  • 2

• Synchronicity

  • 3

SKILLS: NA

MUTATIONS:

• SKIN-DENSITY I

ORGANS: 

• CUTANEOUS

  • FLESHLING SKIN

• SKELETAL

  • FLESHLING BONE

• MUSCLE

  • FLESHLING MUSCLE

  • FLESHLING TENDON

• CIRCULATION

  • FLESHLING CIRCULATION

  • FLESHLING PUMP

• RESPIRIUM

  • FLESHLING LUNGS

• GLANDULAR

  • FLESHLING LIVER

  • FLESHLING ADRENAL

• NEUROLOGOS

  • FLESHLING BRAIN

  • PARASITIC INFESTORICA

• SENSORIA

  • FLESHLING SENSORIA

• DEGUSTATION

  • CYCLIAL DIGESTER

It’s a gambler’s deck, especially compared to the last time. A 1 in vitality and in strength both means she’ll have even less health than last time, and she’s likely even more fucked on the strength stuff, especially considering she’s not purchasing the SWIPE ability. Lowering the synchronicity might have some issues too, but to take SKIN-DENSITY, she needs to ensure that she’s got what she needs prepared for other areas.

And in spite of the stress of dying the last time, and the haptic feedback of the battles, this time she knows more. 

Last time when she tried to craft something, she only had 3 in intelligence, and she still managed to make a weapon with a +3 to strength, a huge boost. By pushing that stat a little higher, she can compensate for lackluster physical stats with tools, while having stronger physical stats likely won’t do anything for her should she encounter a puzzle, and definitely won’t let her have more crafting options. Probably. Maybe they do something like in New Vegas where having mismatched or comically low scores opens up new possibilities, who knows.

Either way, she can always go for a strength-vitality build next time if she makes no headway here. That’s the beauty of the roguelike-style of videogames; death isn’t the end.

Once again, as she finishes her selection, she finds herself cocooned in a strange goo, pushing through it with her controls to burst the sack she is reborn in. She once again is thrown for a loop as she falls forward from the breach, though she notices that this time it actually feels a bit easier to control.

And then, just like last time:

OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE

SIDE-MISSION 1: FEED

SIDE MISSION 2: GROW

She smiles, and she gets straight to work.

She’s lighter this time, probably due to the lack of strength and vitality, her avatar much slimmer, and she books it for the nearest bone-tree. Yet again, it’s like she’s in a ginormous cave made of bone and dripping flesh, the hair-grass making up the rolling fields all around, but she ignores the sightseeing opportunities. She steers well clear of the oozes she notices making the grass stir, making it up the nearest hill quickly.

Last time she broke off one of these branches, she had her Twitching Claw-Glove, which put her at 3 total strength. This time with a third of that, there’s no way she can just pluck one.

And this, of course, is where ingenuity comes in.

She climbs the tree directly, finding the movement controls surprisingly more intuitive, even if they are still a bit slow and clumsy compared to naturalistic movements or a ‘proper’ physics simulator. By the time she’s at the top, though, she’s noticed a problem- two Sludgelings coming in from the direction she came in. Following her? 

Priorities, priorities. She braces her character against some of the smaller branches, shimmying out further and further, finding herself surprised at how her avatar manages to find a balance. Maybe Fleshlings are natural climbers, who knows.

Making it out to the edge of the branch is pretty much all the plan consists of. She manages to pry off a couple smaller twigs, snapping free almost like crystals, but she’s here for bigger prey. Getting near the edge and seeing the stirring of the hair-grass getting closer, she jumps her avatar up and down on the twig, an awkward motion that immediately sends her tumbling off.

But not before she hears a cracking sound and feels the branch break away through the haptics.

She does kind of land on it, and a massive burst of vibration from the torso-feedback hits her. She can see, in the top-left corner, the avatar of her avatar turn a duller shade of red around the ribs and spine.

But none of that matters. It’s not real pain, and she got what she wanted.

Then, she grabs a dozen strands of hair from the ground, yanking them up with all the strength her new and more feeble character can muster until she has a few feet of organic, semi-flexible rope.

The Sludgelings are getting closer. And closer.

Good. She’d hate to have to hunt them down later.

Quickly, she looks over at her supplies. 

MATERIAL ACQUIRED: x7 Decorative Filament type 1a

MATERIAL ACQUIRED: x1 Brittle Bone Club

MATERIAL ACQUIRED: x10 Brittle Bone Shards type 1c

Oh yeah, it’s all coming up sexytime. 

She can feel her Intelligence stat stirring to life, though that’s probably mostly in her head. Oh! Literally, in meta and not. That’s kinda funny. 

It takes her a few seconds, but she wraps the filaments around the heavier edge of the bone club, keeping the sharp end for the grip, awkward though it is. A few more filaments go around said tip, hopefully improving the grip- it should work, considering the modifications to her FOV from the way her eyes work. And isn’t that a cool little bonus? 

The rest of the filaments get woven into surprisingly complex knots, one that Ilia knows that she doesn’t know how to make. It’s an awesome animation, and it almost feels like the controls are moving her, teaching her the motions.

This game is fucking awesome.

The knots form around the brittle bone shards, and a moment later, she gets the notification.

GENERAL EXP ACQUIRED: +12

CRAFTING EXP ACQUIRED: +15

CRAFTING SUCCESSFUL: Shrapnel Bone Club (Low-Grade)

Shrapnel Bone Club (Low-Grade)

+4 Melee Damage

REQUIREMENT: 1 STRENGTH

Awesome informations- there are requirements. She won’t be able to equip just anything, and potentially, from the looks of things, she might be able to craft items that exceed her ability to use them. It’s great info.

Unfortunately, she’s sort of busy with the fact that the Sludgelings have arrived.

She hefts the club, and to her surprise, finds the haptic feedback actually feeding her a low-grade rumble, like it’s straining her arms to the max just to be able to lift this thing. But lift it she does.

One of the Sludgelings peeks its head out of the hair-grass, a lump of disgustingly wet snot folded around a bunch of weird insect-finger-leg things- and promptly falls apart at the sudden and dramatic way that it experiences a thirty-pound club of bone and sharp spikes crashing down on its body.

GENERAL EXP ACQUIRED: +5

ABILITY ACQUIRED: SMASH

SMASH: An attack designed to pulp, crush, or otherwise damage things through an instant of kinetic force. Usually requires strong musculature, but this can be substituted by basic cleverness and the application of gravity. Scales with strength and speed.

Whether it’s from killing the Sludgeling in a single blow or dealing enough damage at once, the ability pops up immediately. Just in time, too- the other slow, crawling ball of snot is rolling along, clearly unbothered by the death of its… sibling? Packmate? Species-pal?

She feels the skill turn the act of lifting and letting fall her club from a slow and herculean task to a… slightly less slow and decently comfortable task, like the avatar’s body has adjusted to the motions needed. It’s almost like the animations are being added live, or at least that’s how it feels.

The second Sludgleling joins the first quickly and easily, and the plumage on her shins actually does protect her from some of the splash of the digestive acids. Bonus!

MATERIAL ACQUIRED: x15 Twitching Digits, Low Grade.

MATERIAL ACQUIRED: x4 Digestive Sludge, Low Grade

Filling up on filaments, she has a whole setup to start crafting again.

She smiles, the animation for chewing (or something like it) prompting her avatar to mimic her. 

She is going to make this starter level her bitch.