Somewhere Someplace

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A little over a week had passed; it had taken the foreigner somewhat less amount of time to go through this same collection quest a second time, her prior experiences having come into play to a degree.

The sea shrubs still required the most amount of time to collect…given the hyper-specificity, quantity, and the fact that…such sea shrubs took five or more months to replenish in supply. However, the glow-crystals, on the other hand, required only two or days…and thus two or so ‘collection sessions’, one for each target category plus the wild glow-crystal.

Now and yet again, she was wandering through this sunny-cave, double yet again, searching for that…very last thing she so needed, that being, triple yet again, a wild glow-crystal.

Ugh…always…the last object of them all required the longest of time to locate. She had spent…hours rummaging around in this sunny-cave, unable to find…any such wild glow-crystal.

Though…likewise…she had been avoiding any of those crystalline arachnids, still not wanting to engage them directly, and instead always letting any other passerby adventurer or local deal with them.

As with before…she had usually just stumbled upon their corpses…their crystalline growths—among other parts and pieces—having been looted and cut off, something she herself had only done…once so far.

However, she had noticed somewhat of a pattern…with the alive crystalline arachnids which she had spotted but avoided. Specifically, the crystalline growths on their figures were relatively the same color as the glow-crystals scattered around and about. An obvious detail…even if such had not been mentioned on the quest-sheet—which it had been—but, it was not just…in color, but also in frequency and rarity.

Most crystalline arachnids she had seen were yellow and orange…most glow-crystals also tended to be of those colors. A handful of…rather larger ones were of that turquoise color, and an even smaller handful of even larger ones were of that magenta color. Likewise, only a handful of glow-crystals were of those respective colors; there was a clear correlation.

This to her…ruled out the possibility that their glow-crystal growths were simply mimicking the environment around or were a product of other such environmental factors…and that those very kinds of glow-crystals were likely being plopped around and about by those very kinds of crystalline arachnids.

Hmm…though…that wild one…perhaps that specific glow-crystal was…not plopped around by that equally specific crystalline arachnid? Thus, it had to be scavenged from it directly?…or maybe both were simply that absurdly rare…?

Ugh…truly, she did not know; all she knew was that…she had spotted neither that glow-crystal nor that crystalline arachnid to which it belonged.

Her eyes scanned around, seeing only familiar narrow spaces of bioluminescence and crystalline glow. Had she…been going in circles or something? No…of course not…she was simply…following the same path as she had done before…and before that before; she had been here before.

So very linear she could be sometimes, often prone to following only the most familiar and predicable routes and paths, hence why she was…even doing this quest again.

She sighed; fine…so as long as she kept track of her steps…she may as well get lost again and…deviate from her path; such was how she…had found that wild glow-crystal the first time, after all.

She continued to stroll, a small empty sack in hand, attentive and alert yet…relaxed and calm, before abruptly taking an alien turn and following an alien path in this seemingly easy-to-navigate cavern.

As she followed this path the glow of bioluminescence and crystals lessened and became scarcer, the cavern becoming darker…much like last time. Hmm…so was this the way to go, then?

She continued onwards, heading deeper and deeper, the darkness only growing in its encompassing width and scale. Her other senses became more sensitive as a result, her hearing and skin and nerves…becoming ever-more attuned to the environment around to compensate for ever-diminishing vision and sight.

As time dragged on, her ears began to hear…quite the many details…the echoing sounds of…crawling and hissing crystalline arachnids deeper within…among many other…assortment of creatures…both near and afar.

Interestingly enough, she began to hear…movements around her periphery…yet not towards her nor even following her; no…whenever she approached, crystalline arachnids within a specific range and distance seemed to…move away from her? As if they too were avoiding her as much as she was avoiding them.

Odd…since they only ever seemed to be…illogically hyper-aggressive.

Hmm…well they were chimeras, and thus they were likely…more sensitive to exoticisms. Could they be detecting her aura, by chance, then?

Hmm…whatever the case may be…such could perhaps be why she had hardly been running into them…unless they were, of course…actively hyper-fixated on something which seemingly nullified these apparent sensitivities of theirs, such as…say, violence and devouring.

Indeed, she had only ever bumped into them whenever they were…so utterly engrossed in such activities to the point of being oblivious.

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The foreigner was kneeling down, her primitive revolver once again in hand; cocked, primed, and readied. Silent and quiet, she evaluated from the edges of yet another entry-point of sorts, one that led into a rather spacious area of…well…open space. Yet again, this area was lower in elevation…thus required a small sliding drop to enter.

Compared to the rest of the narrow passages along which she had been following, this space was relatively more well-lit with glow-crystals of all kinds and colors scattered in clusters around in quite the abundancy. Yellow orange, red, magenta, turquoise, all such colors…all equally abundant.

However, the foreigner had not simply stumbled upon this strange spot and area; no…she had been attracted here, her ears having picked up quite the many array of…strange noises echoing from afar, all emanating from this contained area.

As she observed down below from above, however, the why became rather clear. This rather spacious area was filled with crystalline arachnids; she counted twenty…thirty…forty…fifty…ah…so this must be a ‘nesting ground’ or ‘den’ of sorts, then?

Hmm…remaining deathly silent, her analytical eyes peered with caution. These crystalline arachnids had yet to noticed her intrusive presence…for they were far too fixated on…on…what…what even were they doing?

Hmm…she evaluated. Some were…fighting seemingly, while others were…hmm…well if this was a nesting ground then…was this…were they about to…reproduce or…?

Wait…could they even reproduce at all? Chimeras, given their peculiar nature…were not exactly fertile, in fact…usually they tended to be completely sterile—incapable of any natural reproduction.

Though, as the foreigner pondered away, that question was quickly answered when she witnessed a few smaller…crystalline arachnids mount themselves onto a few quite larger…crystalline arachnids, with a strange…squishy tentacle-like appendage suddenly…protruding out from the smaller ones…as a pore of sorts…opened in the larger ones…before…

Ah…so they were capable of…a form of reproduction…interesting.

Indeed…tying this back to her prior observations…the smaller—now presumably ‘male’ or equivalent biological role—crystalline arachnids had yellow or orange…sometimes red…crystalline growths, whereas the larger and more violent—now presumably ‘female’ or equivalent biological role—crystalline arachnids were the ones with turquoise or magenta…sometimes violet…crystalline growths.

So…wait…were these differences in their size and crystalline radiancy…a form of dimorphism, then? Hmm...if so…then…what were the larger and more dangerous wild glow-crystal ones supposed to be, then? An abnormality or…? Hmm…she did not know.

She continued to observe, becoming oddly…curious and interested.

The smaller presumably male arachnids finished their violent probing, hopping off their mate…yet were now seemingly slower than before, more…stumbly and…dazed, their crystalline growths…somewhat dimming in their radiant glow. The larger presumably female ones…then turned to their mate, staring and hissing before…promptly lunging to…devour…their smaller mate.

Ah…truly, these things sure loved cannibalism. It was rather the bloody mess.

Hmm…interesting, she had noticed this prior but their goopy yellow-green ‘blood’-like fluid was rather radiant and full of exotic luminant glow.

Most likely…an indication that there were some sort of direct affects, augmentation, and facilitation by their…strange chimeric essence in their biological processes, their blood being…stuffed full of exotic enzymes, proteins, and cells no doubt. Such was to be expected with most chimeras, but this was…exceptionally potent.

Likewise, she noticed as the larger presumably female ones devoured their mates…that…were seemingly fixated on their former mates’ largest crystal growth—the same one that she had aimed for the last time she had fought them directly.

Hmm…they had some kind of…special mouth-claw or something…which could puncture through the glow-crystals. Radiant chimeric exoticism spewed out and around…before flowing into and…absorbed…

The larger presumably female…absorbed the chimeric essence of…their mates, which caused their arachnid eyes to ignited somewhat as they did so; their crystalline growths flickered in radiancy, changing and mutating in color…

Huh…interesting…was this an essential component to their…reproduction methods, perhaps? Such would…actually make sense in a way…given that…hmm…

Yet before she could see the remainder of whatever this exotic process was, immediately other presumably female arachnids around, who had been watching and waiting…suddenly pounced at the ones that had just successfully mated…fighting them, ripping them apart…and…devouring…of course.

Hmm…she noticed that…these presumably female crystalline arachnids that were devouring their reproductively successful peers, in addition to their crystalline growths, went straight for their…weird reproductive organs, devouring it specifically…or, no wait…they…had some kind of similar tentacle-like appendage organ…that…extracted…from it?

Wait, so were they…somehow stealing the…huh? How…would that even…huh? Truly, this was…not at all…her domain of expertise.

Yet, nevertheless, she continued to observe them engage in this bizarre reproductive crucible…and with rather the attentive eyes too.

Hmm…she began to notice a rather peculiar detail about these strange crystalline arachnids…a detail which she had noticed before…but only now evaluated in analytical detail.

For…what were supposed to be chimeric crystal-infested invertebrates, they were awfully…squishy and fleshy on the outside—in absence of their crystalline growths and covering, of course. Indeed, they…did not really seem to have a strong, thick, and proper exoskeleton.

Likewise, having witnessed…their bits and pieces flare and spew around and about…it became somewhat clear that they were rather…meaty and boney on the inside, as if they had…some degree of internal skeletal structure to them.

Hmm…actually…right that would make sense…chimeras, right…chimeric essence…double right right…vertebrate-like central nervous systems were…right, so they did have…some kind of quasi-spine analog…then? Hmm…interesting.

These crystalline arachnids were most likely not true arachnids nor even true invertebrates. They were something…else entirely and…just so happened to resemble arachnids despite being completely unrelated.

Truly…nothing about this place was natural at all, though…she knew such a reality from the very start; yet, nevertheless, seeing such things with her own eyes…still seemed to surprise her…to a point…deep down within. Though, what even was ‘natural’? Not as though she even knew…the definitiveness of such.

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An hour or so had passed; the foreigner had remained completely and utterly stationary, having not even moved a single microunit. She had continued to watch and observe with almost…morbid curiosity as the crystalline arachnids fought, mated, and devoured among themselves.

Out of this once filled space of more than fifty arachnids…now only seven remained; those seven triumphant victors that had survived this crucible and were now devouring the leftovers around.

Her continued observations had yielded…quite the revelations, for now she knew…what those larger wild glow-crystal arachnids were.

Indeed, now lingering before her very eyes…were seven nascently made…wild crystalline arachnids. Their glow-crystals no longer that turquoise or magenta they once had been, now glowing and flickering chaotically away in that wild gradient of colors…all at once; their chimeric arachnid eyes ignited in white or yellow.

The wild glow-crystal crystalline arachnids were…the ones that had survived this reproductive crucible; they were the presumably female crystalline arachnids that were carrying offspring…or were now…producing and incubating eggs internally—she had not spotted any form of laid ‘eggs’ at all…implying to her a form of possible live birth or internal development, which would make the most sense given they were…chimeras and had chimeric essence.

However, these seven ones seemed to be much smaller and far less…girthy…than the one she had fought prior, implying, likewise, that…over the course of this…offspring carriage…they would grow in size and in…girth. Which…again, would make sense.

Hmm…interesting…so was that the reason for why these…wild glow-crystals were…so apparently rare? Since…this effect was likely temporary and only contingent on…the carrying of offspring? That would explain, likewise, why she had yet to see any wild glow-crystals planted and plopped around…because it was temporary.

Though…conversely, she still did not really know…why they even…planted their glow-crystals all over the place…perhaps they shed them or…? She had yet to even…witness such a happening either.

Oh, whatever…she had spent far too long of a time oddly infatuated with ecology and chimeric biology.

Whatever such affairs may be, all that mattered to her now was that…finally, stumbling before her eyes was that one last wild glow-crystal that so she needed to collect to finish her quest; seven of them in fact, and a space which had been so conveniently culled…to a more manageable quantity.

Once again, that cold numbing embrace filled her very being and essence…encoded combat protocols taking their effect…as everything she needed to do…everything that needed to be done…became so very clear…and easy to do. Time slowed down as her mind sped up, her thoughts slowing down.

Without any delay, she hopped and slid right down into…that luminant yellow-green blood-infested crucible below.

The wild crystalline arachnids, however, immediately noticed…the sudden presence; yet ever-tired from prior happenings…never mind being stuffed full, they were clumsy and slow to initially react.

The foreigner dropped her small empty sack before immediately dashing to the closest targeted arachnid in a glittery lance of trailing cyanic wisp-dusty radiance.

She brazenly hopped right onto it, her boots bashing into its eyes as it began to panic.

Pop she fired a single ear-piercing shot as black-powdery smoke clouded the air around, piercing into where she had inferred its supposed ‘spine’ to be…that small, thick, yet soft gap between its apparent head and being. The arachnid immediately slumped down; immobile, paralyzed, dead or dying; her inferences proven correct.

This aggravated the rest as they all hissed and shrieked in a purr. Tumbling over the corpses around, they charged and lunged at her.

Hmm…interesting, these ones seemed to not yet have that ability to volley those bursting crystalline spikes like the one before; convenient.

She dodged and evaded, hopping around almost…playfully, as if she were toying with her victims; her augmented agility and reflexives proved to be far…sharper and faster.

No matter how hard they tried…they could not catch her, they could not get her; she was…an annoying fly buzzing around them…tauntingly.

However, the arachnids themselves were relentless…lancing and charging without pause or break, shriek-purring away their many abhorrent noises; thus, evading and dodging was all that she could do…being unable to actually fire…a single targeted kill-shot.

Yet, she quickly remembered…what it was she was even fighting and…what she had just witnessed for that entire past hour.

Ah…of course…she knew what to do.

She evaded and dodged, over and over…slowly but swiftly baiting the lunging crystalline arachnids until finally…one happened to lunged right into another.

Immediately, the two began to tear and rip each other apart…as their hostilities and aggressions were suddenly redirected against each other; funny, she stared…before lance-hopping right onto another, the creature panicking in a fury…as it stumbled itself right into…yet another which then stumbled into…another.

She hopped off and paused in place…as all the chimeric crystalline arachnids so suddenly…and so stupidly…began to tear each other apart in a chain reactive cascade of bloody violence.

She coldly waited, watching with patient…but vigilant…indifference, until ultimately…one was victorious…battered, fatigued, and bloodied…whom she casually approached and promptly executed with a single targeted kill-shot to its supposed ‘spine’.

Done. She was done…

She looked around…glowing yellow-green blood spewed all around…yuck…what a bloody biohazardous mess.

She reloaded and reprimed her primitive revolver, holstering it. Now was…time for the collecting…ugh.

Hmm…she inspected the corpses…considering the multiple copies of this one quest—which she was planning on doing—she may as well…collect all of the now five still viable wild glow-crystals…in advance.

She promptly folded up her sleeves and quickly got to work, manually…extracting…each and every necessary glow-crystal from the ravaged corpses of her victims.

Truly, she hated it when things died; truly she hated causing things to die. Yet…deep down inside within her mind’s shadow…she could not help…but find…playing and toying around…in such a way…to be… so… very… stimulating.

Yet, ever dissociated from her own affective experiences, she could not comprehend it at all.

Even as more and more of those growing contradictions continue to fester deep within your mind’s shadow

Even as the very foundations of your aged and decayed mind continue to rot and wither away

Though, such would not be the first time for you, now would it?