One With The Abyss

"Okay then." I said, looking out into the open field, deciding it wasn't worth the time to ask Abby to explain about it, "How do I fight?"

This was my biggest concern at the moment, I had no means of attack, not even a weapon, and I was weaker than the average person - both here and on Earth.

"It's simple, you use shapeshifting to make your fingers like claws, then kill as an assassin." Abby explained, her tone made it seem as though it was obvious, "Though you will periodically need to rest in order to build back up your abyssal energy, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

I understood and began making my way through the blue grass carefully, one other thing I was told was to copy the talents of what I found, even if they seemed useless or I had already copied them. Copying twice would give a mediocre increase in proficiency based on the copied parties proficiency but would also be much easier to copy since I already had the talent in the first place.

So, I walked carefully, keeping my senses honed for any possible disturbance and eventually I found it: A rabbit. In front of me was a small white rabbit with a little horn growing from its forehead.

"Wha..." Before I could pounce on the unaware creature, Abby let out a weird noise and alerted it - causing it to run away.

"Why the hell did you do that?" I asked, slightly angry that my first hunt had been disturbed. I was desperate to kill something after being pushed around my entire life.

"That was a horned rabbit." She answered slowly.

"I can see that, I could pretty much tell its name without you." I scoffed, would she alert them every time I found a new monster?

"Horned rabbits are fodder monsters, among the weakest of the weak." She said.

"So, isn't that good?" I was beginning to get confused about what she was implying here.

"Yes. It's great really." She said, "But it shouldn't be possible, this dungeon is right near the centre of a forest full of monsters above level 100, this dungeon should be much harder."

"Well, it's like you said, we should figure things out before deciding our plan." Abby agreed and we continued, hunting for some more monsters to kill.

Eventually, I found another horned rabbit, this one had brown fur and looked closer to a hare than a rabbit but I didn't think much of it. I had to be extremely careful, rabbits were highly prone to fleeing and any noise would set it off in a sprint away from me. I made my way through the grass silently, watching as the rabbit remained blissfully unaware, eating away at the grass leisurely.

And then I jumped onto it, it had seen this coming so it moved out of the way slightly. I thought for a moment I was going to miss and make a fool of myself again, but luckily I was able to stop it. I had activated my talent in the final moments, extending my fingers further than I had ever before and managed to snag a grip onto its long ears. Though as it realised escape was impossible it turned its head to me, pointing the horn that grew from its head straight at me - trying to intimidate me.

I was not bothered and activated my copying ability, the feeling of absorption started but quickly ended, much faster than either time previous. It occurred so fast that the talent was copied before the rabbit's charge could even begin. So, when the charge did eventually start I was prepared for it: As the rabbit began moving towards me I simply yanked as hard as I could on its ear. Even with my minimal strength I could easily overpower a rabbit; and that's what I did. As it fell onto its side I released my grip and changed my long fingers into claws and stabbed them into the rabbit. Blood spurted from the shallow wound I had created and I began feeling woozy, not from the sight of blood but more like I had been drained of all my energy. The rabbit was on it's side and bleeding fast so I undid the transformation, but I knew the rabbit wasn't dead yet so I grabbed for it again; having been injured the rabbit could barely react and was quickly captured again, I rose to my feet and forced my normal fingers into the rabbit's fresh wound. Despite the enormous flow of blood, the wound itself was quite shallow - telling me I had likely hit some kind of artery and even without further damage from me, but I still needed to kill it. The rabbit would not grant levels but should I leave it I ran the risk of being attacked from behind, a cornered animal was much more deadly than any other and this rabbit's horn, while small, was certainly deadly.

The rabbit let out little squeaks that I could only assume were shrieks of pain but I did not relent in the slightest. Granting my enemies pity would only make me soft, leave me open for attack, and so with a blood soaked arm I squashed that little rabbit's life. What happened next was my legs feeling mushy as I fell to the ground, exhausted.

"What's happening?" I asked, my vision blurring.

"You've used up all of your energy from shapeshifting." Abby answered, then attempted to help, "Just meditate, use your talent to bring in the abyss, replenish your supply."

I did as I was told, too tired to even question anything, and sat in a meditative stance. My head was clouded but I still managed to conjure up the feelings necessary to activate my talent and for a moment I felt nothing.

No changes, no flow, no anything.

My mind clouded further and I felt I would soon collapse entirely when a gentle breeze washed over me. All of my tiredness seemed to wash away and I could think again. I wasn't sure how long I sat like that before all of my energy was returned to me but the blood that coated my arm had begun drying already.

"What was that?" I asked.

"The abyss." Abby explained it to me, "The abyss exists everywhere and you are able to connect with it, such that you can absorb its energy. Though if you want to increase the amount of abyssal energy you can hold it will be a little more difficult."

It seemed that my energy reserves were not enough to maintain any major transformation for a long time, luckily regaining my energy was easy so I turned my attention elsewhere, like the current lack of a dead rabbit in front of me.

In its place were 3 items, a slab of presumably rabbit meat, a small horn like the one that had been growing from my enemies head and a small, dull rock. I had a suspicion of what these were, but wasn't entirely sure.

"Yes, they are dungeon drops." Abby said, reading my mind and confirming my suspicions.

"So, when a monster dies in a dungeon it becomes an item for me to use?" I continued my line of questioning, getting used to Abby invading my thoughts.

"No one knows why it happens, it simply does. When beings die in a dungeon they transform into drops: Even people." The last part of Abby's explanation felt slightly unsettling but I sent it to the back of my mind rather than choose to dwell on it and instead did something I wasn't entirely proud of.

I grabbed the raw rabbit meat and forced it down my throat, feeling disgusting as I did so but unable to stop myself due to the hunger that had slowly been eating away at my stomach lining. I forced myself not to throw it back up and told Abby to shut up as it seemed she was going to say something. 

"I wasn't going to say anything, I understand how hungry you are." Abby said, denying what I thought she would say, "I simply wanted to remind you to check your new talent."

I had completely forgotten about it amongst my exhaustion, the disappearing corpse and the raw rabbit meat feast. Now reminded I opened the page to my new status:

[Fast Feet (0/1)]

[Increases users speed. Small increase to reflexes. Small increase to senses]

This is a little bit underwhelming, compared to the other talents I had. This one seemed mediocre.

"Don't think like that." Abby said, admonishing me, "Not every talent will be powerful, but every talent will work to make you powerful - many small parts make a large whole."

I agreed with her, and had lost some of the discomfort I had felt when she read my mind; though there was the slight worry it was some kind of effect like the one present when my class was summoned. Unfortunately though, Abby grew on the back of my hand so I had no means to get rid of her, even if it was some kind of power that messed with my brain like Malleca had.

"It's not." She said, sounding more annoyed than usual, "Anyway, get moving. I doubt the blood you sprayed everywhere has gone unnoticed."

She was right, so I stood back up and continued my hunt - feeling slightly lighter on my feet and as though the sounds around me and the view before me were a little bit clearer than they had been.

The effect of this talent seemingly worked much quicker than any other.

"Yes it does, talents like this take an almost immediate effect on people." Abby explained as we walked deeper into the grassy field, "It's a mixture of their passive nature and low mastery limit. Simply put, higher mastery talents require more effort to even feel a slight effect from them."

It was useful information to know, it seemed the best types of talents I could get at the moment would be ones that passively increase my abilities since I couldn't gain them through levels. Walking through the field it didn't take long before I found yet another rabbit, though this time it took much less out of me to kill it. I also managed to copy its talent even though it had very little effect on my mastery of the already obtained talent; Abby told me it would be best improved by running or dodging. The items dropped this time were the same except a fur instead of a horn. Unfortunately I had to leave it all since I had no means of carrying it, though I did force myself to eat even more raw meat due to my hunger.

Between fights I practised shapeshifting in ways Abby told me would have so little effect on my energy I would be safe, killing rabbits in between and regaining energy when needed. I had been walking blindly for a while but thought I must have been heading in the right direction as a small brown wolf layed sleeping in a small opening.

I had some concerns about the monster so I asked Abby.

"This is called a Brun Wolf, a pretty basic wolf species. And it's not a boss; all bosses are behind doors in a dungeon - even field type dungeons like this." Abby's quick and quiet words put me at ease and I began planning my attack on the new enemy. Most times the rabbits tried to run away up until the point they realise it's not possible, but I doubted the wolf would act the same. It also sat in the centre of a clearing, a small one but still enough to see me; I was also not confident in sneaking up on it as I was very much covered in blood of what I presume the wolf hunted.

"Hmm. That may be useful." I mumbled to myself, deciding to take a chance on a plan.

I slowly walked around until it faced away from me while I slept and activated my shapeshifting once again to extend my finger. I even made it smaller as it snaked its way towards the sleeping wolf. Eventually, I established contact between the 2 of us and -with me sweating - activated [One With The Abyss]. I wasn't entirely sure it would work but I felt it, the pull of a talent. Even through shapeshifting I could take power. It took longer than the rabbit, much longer, but eventually I finished the process and pulled my finger back slowly. Afterwards I restored the energy I had used to use shapeshifting and checked the spoils I had acquired.

[Predatory (0/1)]

[Gain knowledge of hunting. More easily identify vital locations]

The talent was decent, that was for sure. Nothing exceptional but would certainly be useful for me as I cleared the dungeon. Looking back over at the wolf I did notice some areas of the wolf looked different, like they were marked out for me. Unfortunately, knowing where to aim didn't help me to actually win in a fight if I couldn’t even reach it in the first place.

"Damn. If only I had some kind of weapon." I muttered under my breath, "Wish that stupid soul weapon would awaken or whatever."

I made sure to keep quiet enough so as not to disturb the wolf but my annoyance still could not be contained easily. A thought came to try shapeshifting that caused me to remember the words used in the talent: alter the properties of your body

Perhaps I could do more than change how my body felt. I focused just on my finger, overlapped it with images of steel and iron - trying to change the very core of my being. I felt something, but it was fleeting and inconsequential; even if it was possible, as the feeling suggested, I wasn't good enough to do it. Then I tried something different, I thought merely of something to harm the wolf, and like magic, the tip of my finger changed. It was even easier than making my fingers sharp like claws. On the tip of my finger grew the horn of a horned rabbit, short and sharp - just as they liked them.

"Why didn't you tell me I could do this?" I asked Abby, undoing the transformation as I felt the energy drain. It was slightly less draining than when I made my hands claws and clearly much more deadly, all around an improvement over what I had been doing. Copying the abilities of my enemies also seemed to copy their genetic data so I could use shapeshifting to change into them; partially or fully when I had the mastery to do so.

"If I simply told you everything, you would never grow." Her argument seemed pointless, considering she was supposed to be here to help me, but then again I suppose this is a type of helping. As she finished saying this I heard the distinct sound of the system:

[Shapeshifting (1/9)]

It seems the discovery of my ability pushed me over the edge of level 1. Even just this allowed me to see how much more fluid my transformation was.

Now, with the instincts and the weapon, I was prepared to fight the wolf. I stepped into the clearing, slowly with deliberate steps so as not to wake it up. Fighting was good, assassinating was better. Unfortunately, I didn't get so lucky: As I got within arms distance of the monster it sprung to life and jumped around to face me with a furious snarl, sharp teeth baring all their might at me.

We looked at each other, motionless besides the movements of our lungs; waiting for the other to move. Each participant, a predator waiting to kill their prey, desperate for our hunt. It moved first, with it's superior speed it charged at me and opened its mouth to feat; but I would not be bested by a glorified dog, as it moved I stepped to the side and attempted to pierce into its side where it was marked in red. My attempt came up empty as it pushed itself sideways and away from harm. Like this we danced back and forth, each making quick jabs at one another. In a battle of attrition I would surely lose as I did not have much abyssal energy, not to mention the injuries I received outside of the dungeon, sapping my physical strength.

The wolf would surely win if this duel continued for much longer so I decided to take advantage of my newfound shapeshifting skills, as it once again approached me I again moved to dodge it. However, I moved in such a way that I was still in some danger; my body was only a head's turn away from the wolf and I had lost my balance by moving in such an abnormal pattern - but this is what I wanted. Its head turned quickly to take advantage of my blunder, but as it turned my hand plunged into its mouth, in an instant my skin was covered in the sharp fangs of a wolf, cutting up the insides of its mouth. It whelped in pain, and instead of biting down it jumped back, causing even more damage as its fleshy mouth rubbed against the fangs inside of it. I quickly rose to my feet to see blood gushing from the wolf's mouth, it had sustained major damage and I would not let this chance slip away as that move had cost me a significant amount of energy. I ran forward, shocking the wolf who had previously been the one initiating combat, and raised my arm; my only hand balled up into a fist and a sharp horn grew from it, like a spiked cestus, ready to impale the wolf. The wolf moved to the side to avoid my obvious attack, but I had already anticipated this; this was an animal, and even with my lacking intelligence I could outthink a wolf. During our altercations the wolf had consistently moved to the right. likely taking advantage of my missing arm, but now this was its greatest mistake.

Before it could notice, the wolf was hit by my leg, blocking its path of escape - resulting in a spike piercing into the wolf's brain - killing it almost painlessly.

As the wolf fell to the floor and bled out, so did I hit the ground in exhaustion. As a response I had grown used to my limited energy and began meditating to replenish it. Though I did have a question afterwards.

"Why did my shapeshifting require less energy than before?" I asked, but then more questions came to mind, "Also why do I feel refreshed, surely moving around like this should have made my injuries worse."

"Firstly, the shapeshifting took less due to your higher mastery both increasing your ability to shift and reducing the cost to do so. Secondly, absorbing abyssal energy has been slowly healing your wounds, the healing is incredibly slow but if you kept at it for around a week your ribs would likely fully heal. You'd need something like a regeneration talent for that" Abby answered both of my questions, sparking awe at what I could do.

"This abyss talent is getting better by the day." I laughed, then looked at the rewards I had gotten.

On the floor in front of me was a crystal and a slab of meat, just like when I had killed a rabbit, but also one of its eyes. I was grossed out at first, then Abby told me it could work as an alchemy ingredient, which did nothing to help my perception of the drop item. I was just hoping for some kind of clothes to wear. My entire outfit was covered in dirt, blood and ripped in many places where I had made mistakes in my fights. It was honestly a miracle it had held up this long.

But there was nothing I could do, with only one arm I couldn't create any more clothes, not to mention I lacked the ability to do so even if I had the arm. LEE had taught some sowing, however, that didn't extend to the leathers that monsters had dropped when I killed them.

Deciding that there was no point in dwelling on it I continued deeper into the grassy plains, my hunger satisfied with that last wolf. From there I hunted even more wolves and rabbits, increasing my fighting ability and refining my style. I could not even take on groups of wolves with some difficulty, though that was only because I was desperate to not take on any more injuries since Abby reminded me that the blood ogres would likely still be hunting me.

Eventually, I came upon a door. On either side of it extended a strange barrier that reminded me of how movies depicted extreme heats. Like I could see something around it but it was so distorted it was impossible to tell. The door itself was a winding of blue grass, extending and hardening such that I could have mistaken it for oak.

"This is the boss door." Abby said, just as my curiosity reached its peak.

"So, behind this door will be the final enemy I have to face." I asked.

"On this floor, yes." Abby seemed sure there were at least 2 floors considering that she never even humoured the idea of this being the only floor, "And after killing it you will receive a reward of some kind."

Her assurance of a reward sparked my fighting spirit. Had this been the me of only a few days prior I would have been quaking in fear at the sight of just the rabbits but that me was dead now. The betrayal, the run in with death, and the experience I had fighting had shaped me into a new person. I would not die here, not until I got what I wanted.

So, confidence soaring, I pushed open the blue grass door. It opened as if expecting me and pulled me in with an impressive suction force. A white light shone for a moment before revealing a wolf sleeping in the middle of a clearing. It was larger than the wolves I had fought outside and had grey fur with lighter shades running along its sides.

"It's a Gris Wolf. Sort of like an alpha version of the Brun Wolves." Abby said quietly, "It should also have another talent for you to take."

A fire lit up within me as she said that, I wanted to easily use its own strength against it and tried to copy what I had done in my first encounter with a Brun wolf but it failed incredibly quickly. As soon as my finger crossed the threshold between where I was standing and the opening where we would fight, the wolf's eyes shot open and I was pushed into the arena; the area I was standing having been pushed forward.

Like all of the other wolves this one was cautious, it stared at me before doing anything. In the dungeon the wolves had some intelligence, they almost always jumped to my right side since I lacked an arm, and unlike the rabbits who all followed the exact pattern of: Run; realise their trapped; blindly charge; the wolves were capable of greater thinking.

This time I decided to initiate combat, running forward. The wolf did not falter at all and placed itself in a lower stance, ready to pounce as all wolves did when they attacked. This wolf was definitely much more deadly, not only was it bigger than the brown ones but it seemed to have a more intelligent look in its eyes, but I would not be bested. As I had closed much of the gap between us, the wolf launched forwards, mouth open, ready to bite. It's movement placed me on my right side, but this only served to help me as I had expected that move. So, as the wolf jumped, so too did my body turn, my hand was open and covered in the curved fangs of the wolves. I didn't really expect what I was doing to work but it did, the fangs latched onto a wolf, much like how a spider climbs walls.

With a grip secured, I went flying along with the wolf while copying its talent and dealing some decent damage. The energy drain surprisingly didn't cost much despite not increasing my shapeshifting any higher than the first level. The wolf came to a stop and almost flung me from it in doing so; my absorption had not yet completed so I had to stay connected to the monster. Its head turned to look at me and its jaws opened so I acted quick, like a certain spider-themed superhero I began climbing the wolf. Every time I stuck to the monster it thrashed harder and roared louder but I stuck on until eventually the talent was copied.

Abby had told me it was possible to copy talents from corpses but it would come out diluted, being less effective than if I had taken it from the living source. So, I took the risk and survived, gaining the talent:

[Superior Traits (0/2)]

[Increases all faculties of the body: Strength, speed, durability, reflexes, etc]

"This is good, but not right now..." I muttered, a little annoyed. Not that I had expected much.

"This was likely what allowed it to become the dungeon boss." Abby added in. I had managed to take distance from the boss by this point, and it allowed me after my continuous 'assault', seemingly even more cautious about me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, her words confusing me. I had believed the dungeon to be similar to computers back home that were designed one way and existed like that permanently.

"That isn't the right way to think." Abby explained, "While monsters simply occur in dungeons, each dungeon has its own functioning ecosystem, if a monster native to the dungeon were to challenge and defeat the boss it would assume the title as the new boss of the dungeon."

"In some cases, when a monster is lucky enough and gains an especially great talent, the order of the floors could change and the first floor would become the third or the fifth. Though that is rare."

"How would the monsters even get in?" I asked, there was no way these wolves could use that door.

"Native monsters can bypass that mirage barrier and-" Her explanation was cut short as the wolf charged forward, overcoming its fear.

Small trails of blood followed in its wake but it was nothing it couldn't handle. I moved as I usually did, but the wolf had anticipated this, shifting its body in such a way that it hit me right in the stomach with its tail. With my weak body it felt like a professional boxer had just hit me as hard as he could and I went flying backwards, hitting the barrier that enclosed the arena. I was only just able to get up and move out of the way as the wolf charged at me again, hitting itself harmlessly against the barrier and being forced to stop and turn for a moment. I took the opportunity and punched forward, my fist being covered in its own fangs, the damage was much more pronounced as deeper cuts appeared along its furred side. The wolf yelped and jumped away, this then began a delicate balance of me making use of the wall and the wolf's tendency to charge in order to gradually build up damage against it.

Due to the shifting only lasting mere moments the energy usage was minimal, it also allowed 3 of my talents to increase in level:

[Fast Feet (1/1)]

[Predatory (1/1)]

[Superior Body (1/2)]

Everything about how I moved changed, and the sudden shift almost caused me to make a mistake. I felt stronger, faster and more aware of my surroundings. The points where the wolf was weakest became more obvious to me and I felt foolish for not properly knowing how to hunt this creature down. The fight progressed much quicker at this point; my body felt much lighter so dodging became even easier, my attacks dealt increased damage and my increased reflexes allowed me to dodge - even without making use of the wall.

The talents I had increased only granted small buffs but it seemed they built up into something greater. Abby had told me that increasing my mastery of each talent had different means, but it looked like most of them required to be done in combat. Soon after my upgrade the wolf fell: Exhausted and almost out of blood. So, I walked to it, wobbling feet from my own exhaustion and drove a horn straight into its skull.

The wolf died, and eventually became merely a pile of items: A large, grey fur; a set of razor sharp fangs; a large claw; and finally a crystal, the size of my palm. For a moment I felt a little disappointed with the rewards, but in the corner of my vision 2 changes occurred: A large chest appearing in the centre of the arena and a door leading me out.

I slowly made my way to the chest, forcing it open without care that it may be a trap and saw what was inside. A black tunic, with all the frills one would expect a noble to have worn in the mediaeval era. With it in and all my other rewards in hand, I made my way through the door.

To safety.