Lubus, are you there? What’s going on? I asked in my mind, trying to direct my thoughts at the now completely red ominously glowing crystal in the middle of the room where I could still sense Lubuses presence. I knew she was still there, but whatever had happened, whatever struggle was going on inside the gem, Lubus was unable to talk to me right now. I had noticed before that she only spoke to me when the purple color appeared, this red glow must represent whatever creature inhabited the gem before Lubus had touched it and been absorbed. I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but the gem seemed to have the power to store creatures within itself judging from what had happened to the troll when it had died, except that Lubus wasn't dead. It was the same creature that was now trying to bond with me, whatever that meant, the numbers floating in my vision grew larger and larger. I didn’t know what they meant exactly, but it couldn’t be a good thing, and I was not just going to wait for it to turn me into its vessel, that sounded very unpleasant.

I tried to rise from where I had been laying and slither my way towards the gem, but the pain in my tail made my vision go black, and I saw stars as I lost my balance and hit the ground hard. My vision cleared and I saw the numbers still hovering in my view.

58%... 59%... 60%

As the counter reached 60 red streamers of light shot out from the crystal and entered my body, it was very uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt exactly. Whatever was going on seemed to be nearing its completion as the numbers increased faster and faster. If I couldn’s slither, I would just have to crawl, so I used my hands to drag myself closer to the hovering gem all the while the light entered me at a rapid pace. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there when Lubus had touched the thing she had been instantly absorbed. Perhaps I could smash it with a rock or something, touching the gem had seemed to trigger whatever had happened to Lubus and I wanted to be as far away from the gem as possible. Why did I even need to approach it in the first place? At that thought, I stopped pulling myself and picked up a decently sized rock from the cave floor, took aim and threw it as hard as I could at the floating crystal. It hit with a satisfying cracking sound, and I could see a crack forming on the surface of the crystal. From this crack purple light floated out to quickly join the red flowing from the crystal and entering my body. This time it did hurt, and I could hear someone screaming out in agony, that someone was me I realized as I welcomed the relief when my vision faded and I fell into unconsciousness.

I woke up in what felt like moments later but any amount of time could have passed as I lay passed out on the same cave floor where I had fallen. Judging by the condition of my body a lot of time must have passed as I was completely healed from my injuries. As I sat up to look around I expected to feel some pain, the troll hadn’t been gentle when it ripped me away from its brother's throat, and I assumed that I at least had some broken bones. I felt nothing as I sat up gingerly, I felt pretty good actually, better than good, I felt great. Natural healing and rest could perhaps explain the healing of my bones, but I had to have been laying here for a long time for my injuries to completely healed, and with no food or water I thought that was unlikely. Had Lubus found a way to take care of me somehow or had someone else treated me. A moment later I had my answer as text appeared in my vision.

Partial bond complete

Unable to assume direct control due to outside forces

Restoration successful

The vessel at optimal condition

Proceeding with status report

Name: Unknown Species: Naga Gender: Female Age: Unknown

Attributes

Strength: Unknown Endurance: Unknown Constitution: Unknown

Dexterity: Unknown Agility: Unknown Perception: Unknown

Intelligence: Unknown Willpower: Unknown Charisma: Unknown

Mana: N/A

Inherent abilities

Enormous snake tail: The vessel is able to use the appendage in various different ways such as jumping large distances, climbing, navigating terrain, and constricting prey. The specifics of these are yet to be determined.

Venom: The vessel can inject venom into its prey from retractable fangs. The potency of this venom is yet to be determined.

Snake tongue: Vessel has enhanced smell, picks out particles in the air by flicking tongue through it. The particulars of this sense are yet to be determined.

Heat sense: Vessel possesses the ability to sense fluctuations in the temperature in the environment around it. The particulars of this sense are yet to be determined.

Notable skills:

Vessel skilled in combat, observed using a spear and shield effectively.

Vessel seems comfortable with wearing heavy armor.

Status report found inconclusive.

More information and calibration needed.

The wall of text appeared in front of me, obscuring my vision. I could understand all of it, but I didn’t like what I saw. It appeared that the thing was studying me, a chill raced up my spine at the thought. It had said it had bonded with me, but where was it? I had looked around the cave, but I had found no trace of the red gem that had hovered in its middle. I closed my eyes and tried to see if I could still sense Lubus. I was still aware of her, but if the sense were to be believed Lubus was right in front of me. That couldn’t be true, but no matter how I turned or bent I always felt her in front of me. In fact, she was incredibly close almost pressing up against me. I closed my eyes again and found the sense of Lubus, I examined the feeling closer, and my eyes shot open as I came to a realization.

I rose from my sitting position and started to remove my armor calmly. It wasn’t easy doing it alone, but I managed it. Loosening all the buckles and untying the straps took some time, the beating I had taken didn’t help as the metal was bent and buckled in some places making it even harder to remove. Eventually, a loud clattering sound could be heard as the breastplate fell to the floor followed soon after by the rest of the armor. I lifted the shirt I was wearing underneath and found what I was looking for. Nestled in my navel sat the red gem I was looking for, I reached a hand towards it to touch it but as I got close, incredible pain shot through me. I jerked my hand back, and the pain disappeared, this must be the work of the crystal I thought, but I wasn’t going to let it control me. I brought my hand back to try and touch it, and the pain started again, the closer I got to it the more intense the pain became. I was almost touching it when the pain became too much to bear, and I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, taking deep lungfuls of air every time I breathed.

Pain found ineffective deterrent.

In danger of damaging Vessel.

Endurance and Willpower calibrated.

Scanning assets…

Solution found.

Forming connection.

Eshanai, are you there, can you hear me? The voice seemed distant and somehow muffled as I tried to focus my mind and my vision cleared a bit, but I still recognized it.

Lubus, hello. Yes, I can hear you. I’m so glad to hear your voice again. Do you know what happened? Oh, by the home cave, I feel like crap. Relief spread through me as Lubus spoke to me again, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to try to destroy the gem if Lubus was it there and I didn’t know what would happen to her if I removed it from my body now that I was bonded to the crystal. I wasn’t kidding when I said I felt like crap, my vision was spinning, and it was hard to focus on Lubus’ words as she spoke to me.

It’s good to hear your voice too. I believe the dungeon used its connection to you to stop you from touching its core, we are lucky that it’s a young dungeon and not a more experienced one. I might find a way to free us from its influence, but I need some time. Don’t worry about feeling ill, the dungeon will most likely fix you as it doesn't want to damage its vessel. At those last words, the core, as Lubus had called it, pulsed and warmth spread throughout my body. I felt instantly better, and I rose up to an upright position, this theme had become far too common as of late.

Vessel restored

New objective: Find equipment

Spear 0/1

Shield 0/1

Armor 0/1

Failure to complete objective will result in pain.

I wasn’t afraid to feel a little pain again, and Lubus had said that the dungeon didn’t want to hurt me, but I was going to look for those things anyway, and I might as well go along with its wishes to let Lubus come up with a way to free us both. I was confident in her ability to outsmart a glorified rock. The armor was on the ground around me, so that was easy to find, but as I picked it up, it turned into red light in my hand's which flew towards my belly and into the gem.

Uh, Lubus, what just happened? I asked, unsure if I should continue.

This is so amazing, we are seeing the infamous ability dungeons have to absorb thing first hand. This could be extremely useful, I think you should continue. I shrugged my shoulders and picked up the rest of my armor, and like the breastplate, it all turned into red light and was sucked into the crystal. With the armor, all absorbed I started to turn to look for my spear and shield. But a glow surrounded me and I was suddenly wearing all the metal again, with all the buckles and straps firmly tied into place it even looked like the dungeon had repaired all the damage. Lubus was right this could be useful.

I turned to look for my shield and spear with new enthusiasm, the shield had been on fire when I had thrown it at the troll, but maybe the core could repair it as it had done with the armor. I found my spear laying where the troll had died, and I picked it up for the dungeon to absorb it. The shield was unrecognizable as I found a pile of melted metal and charred wood laying against the cave wall, but I recognized one of the handles and realized what it was. As I pried the metal from the ground it stuck to the floor, I pulled on it with all my strength, and with a final jerk I pried the mass loose, and the core absorbed it in a flash of red light.

Strength calibrated

Unable to repair shield, additional materials needed

Objective complete

Spear 1/1

Shield 1/1

Armor 1/1

As the last message disappeared from my vision, a little victory tune played from somewhere, and red sparks flew from the core to bloom in the sky like flowers. It was pretty and all but I was more interested in the second message, it couldn’t just repair things out of nothing it needed the actual materials to do it, and I wondered if we could use it to our advantage.

Current stats

Name: Eshanai Species: Naga Gender: Female Age: Unknown

Attributes

Strength: 15 Endurance: 20 Constitution: Unknown

Dexterity: Unknown Agility: Unknown Perception: Unknown

Intelligence: Unknown Willpower: 25 Charisma: Unknown

Mana: N/A

Inherent abilities

Enormous snake tail: The vessel is able to use the appendage in various different ways such as jumping large distances, climbing, navigating terrain, and constricting prey. The specifics of these are yet to be determined.

Venom: The vessel can inject venom into its prey from retractable fangs. The potency of this venom is yet to be determined.

Snake tongue: Vessel has enhanced smell, picks out particles in the air by flicking tongue through it. The particulars of this sense are yet to be determined.

Heat sense: Vessel possesses the ability to sense fluctuations in the temperature in the environment around it. The particulars of this sense are yet to be determined.

Notable skills:

Vessel skilled in combat, observed using a spear and shield effectively.

Vessel seems comfortable with wearing heavy armor.

New objective: Calibrate attributes

Go through various tests to determine your strengths and weaknesses

Failure to complete objective will result in pain

How did it know my name?