Gwehehehehe.
Just like this, I start to race around the cavern, my two passengers having way too much fun, disabling the plant monsters by trimming their leaves, chopping at their vines and puncturing their weak points. Tiny continues his berserk rampage, ripping plants apart with his bare hands, smashing their main bodies to pulp, even shoving his arm into the gaping mouth of one plant and pulling it inside out.
…Disgusting. I mean, was that strictly necessary, Tiny? You could have just punched it in the face, but no, pulling it inside out from its mouth. That’s an image I have to live with now. Thanks.
In short order, we manage to cull this particular section of tunnel, handing most of the experience off to Tiny and letting Vibrant take the last hit on two of the plants to pump her Levels a little bit.
Now time for the feast!
After eating meat and squishy internal organs for most of my new life, I’m ready to try something new. A bit of leafy greens, essential fibre!
Starting with one of the big mouthed flowers, I start to chow down on this new cuisine. Hmmmmm. Chewy, rough, extremely fibrous, almost like eating a rope… and, oh! The internals are quite… squishy, and… horrible. This is just as bad as eating centipedes.
Come on, Gandalf! When are we going to find a monster that’s basically a nice pie on legs? Or a monster that fires roasted chicken out of its face cannon? Surely there is something in this damn Dungeon that tastes good?
I should have had Tiny rob the kitchen at the castle as well as the treasury…
Tiny, Vibrant and Crinis don’t seem to particularly care as they rip into the Biomass with gusto. I’m still confused at how Crinis, despite being so much smaller than me, manages to have a bigger mouth than I do…
Oh well.
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Flos Flame. You are awarded one Biomass.]
[Basic profile of the Flos Flame unlocked.]
[Flos Fame: Hunger Flower. A basic type monster of the plant kingdom, the hunger flower uses heat sensitivity to track its opponents, attack them with sharp vines and drag them to its mouth for consumption.]
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Acidum Ollam. You are awarded one Biomass.]
[Basic profile of the Acidum Ollam unlocked.]
[Acidum Ollam: Acid Pot. This base plant-type monster uses a powerful jet of acid to attack and defeat its foes. The main body of the creature is actually mobile, allowing it to drag itself toward the remains of its victims in order to feast.]
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Vinea Bestia. You are awarded one Biomass.]
[Basic profile of the Vinea Bestia unlocked.]
[Vinea Bestia: Vine Beast. The Vine Beast is a curious cross of both plant and animal, being a mobile vine nest that doesn’t have a distinct main body, but spreads its vital organs around its network of vines. Whilst this does make the creature difficult to fight, with no central target to strike, if you can identify a key organ in one of the vines it can be defeated quickly.]
I’m pretty sure Tiny just ripped the vines off the wall and flattened them until they stopped moving…
“What Level have you reached, Vibrant?” I ask the little worker, still stuffing its face with food.
To be fair, I am as well. We don’t need our mouths to speak after all.
The little worker waves her antennae at me as she eats. “The voice said that Vibrant has reached Level four! Am I strong yet?”
“Ah, no. Not at all.”
“Boo!”
“But you’ll have a chance to get stronger really soon. Once you reach Level five, you’ll be able to evolve into a stronger monster.”
“Yay!”
“But I want you to wait, ok? If you wait until we can reinforce your core, then you’ll be able to evolve into something even stronger!”
The little ant seems to think about it for a while.
“Ok! But what should I spend my Biomass points on now that I have a +5 Pheromone Gland?”
I sort of shrug with my antennae. “Whatever you like, try to get every body part to +5 as quickly as you can. Just pick the mutations that seem interesting to you.”
After our brief conversation, Vibrant turns silent for a time, a rare event indeed. She might be going through the menu perhaps, looking at options. I watch her carefully as I eat, hoping to see some sort of debilitating sign of mutation itch occurring but… nothing.
Dammit!
I myself gain six Biomass, three from bonus points and three from snacking, before I stop. I don’t want to fill up on this weak stuff, I need more powerful evolved monsters to eat. Crinis and Vibrant don’t need to fight, so they should stuff themselves now, then again later to maximise their benefits.
Time to go deeper!
54. The Finer Vegetation
We continue to progress farther into the Dungeon, ensuring we stick with the larger paths at every opportunity. Even though we walk past dozens of smaller tunnels, we ignore them all. If we want to progress fast or locate an Expanse, which according to what I’ve learned from my interrogation is by far the best way, we need to stick to the larger passages. The bigger the better.
Not wanting to hang about too much and waste time, I let Tiny smash his way through the various plant creatures that fill the tunnel. Able to pulp these veggies with one fist, the big fellow doesn’t even appear to be getting tired when we start to encounter some more nasty looking creatures.
It really does give a different vibe, these plant-filled sections of Dungeon. Used to seeing cold stone, dark earth and waves of beast or insect type creatures, it’s almost refreshing to have such a leafy environment. Never mind the fact that such plants would obviously normally require access to sunlight in order to survive. I presume since they eat Biomass like everything else in the Dungeon, there really isn’t any need for them to photosynthesise. That being the case, why are they still so leafy?
After an hour of pushing through the riff raff and following the many bends in the Dungeon, we finally encounter some creatures I suspect have evolved once.
Larger flowers with mouths, a bushy plant that actually rushed about on its roots as if they were legs, even a bizarre reed type creature that cast water spells at us, great jets of water blasting out of thin air.
Tiny punched all of it to heck and we even collected a core from the magic one.
Every now and again, I flick on my Mana Sense to inspect the creatures growing within the walls. They are clearly still there and growing. Every now and again we see a plant monster push its way out of the wall and fly at us in a rage.
What’s curious is that the regular plant-type monsters we find don’t seem to attack each other much. I can only presume they feed on something else that comes this way, that just isn’t present at this moment in time.
Constantly doing this has thankfully Levelled my Mana Sense up to Level 5. With every Level, the range and sensitivity becomes sharper and more useful.
Eventually we reach a wide tunnel space filled with greenery and vegetation. Large plant monsters dot every surface, with other more mobile creatures wandering about seeking prey. I can see some fairly nasty looking individuals in here. This might be good enough.