POV Jacob

  I stare impassively at my younger self, coughing up blood and hacking up phlegm, barely able to breathe and collapsed on the floor. Specks of blood break free from my clasped hands, staining the new carpet red. My vision blurs as I sink lower, tittering at the edge of the stairs. My lungs burn and constrict as if trapped in a vice, my brain feels as if it's been left outside on a cold, foggy night. Rasping breaths struggle to break through the coughs that rattle against my bony ribs until finally I fight through the wheezing and manage to take a shallow inhale that tides me over for the next round of choking.

  I never did fall down those stairs, and I was eventually able to breathe properly again after a few more minutes, but the memory was unpleasant enough that it could be weaponised within my mind palace. I cut off the end of the memory of clearing up the eventual vomit and booking yet another doctor's appointment; they were irrelevant. The now-shortened memory was placed alongside other brief snippets of my life that would serve as deterrents in my mind.

  Not bothering to give the memory a second glance, I bring forth a mental video from a few weeks before the last memory, this one associated with a deep-seated anger. The scene around me shifts to my father's car as he drives me home from one of those obstacle-course marathons that promote toughness and extremism.

  "See, I knew you could do it. All that talk about your body letting you down when you just had to try harder." My dad says with unfounded confidence that caused my memory manifestation's eye to twitch in anger that drowned out the pain of the hypermobile hips that had me limping to the car, the internal screaming of my shoulder after having to be pushed it back into the socket because I used it at the wrong angle. Yet the memory says nothing, bringing up the points of my failing body again would do nothing but annoy the man who took my failings as an insult to the genes he gave me. So I sat there stewing in anger at the notion of not trying enough, not releasing that our relationship would finally reach an understanding in the next six months after the first diagnosis.

  'Hmmmm, not applicable to the general populace.' Most don't have to deal with invisible illnesses and disabilities to understand the deep annoyance at the notion that it is somehow your fault because you look fine and therefore are milking it for attention. So the memory is dumped on the pile of other such instances where I'm called an attention whore for wanting to be vegan but still having to eat chicken because being allergic to histamine is a "skill issue" and "not a real thing" and endless people with fake smiles stating they will "pray for me" and expecting a heartfelt thank you in response.

  All things that mean nothing to the average person, even if they still pisses me off to this day. So the memories are discarded as filler and set aside as a buffer to hide the important stuff. I was about to bring another memory forward when I felt my physical body be gently nudged in an attempt to wake me. It felt odd and distant, but I knew what it meant, so, with a heavy sigh brought on by reliving multiple depressing and nauseating memories, I forced on a smile and woke up to take my night watch shift from an exhausted Ava.

  After Ava was tucked away for the night, I took the time to double-check the temporary stone walls I brought down from the ceiling before promptly passing out last night. While they were thin in some places, they still stood firm with a few gaps to allow air flow that were only briefly obscured by the occasional curious Crawlers. Satisfied that the defences were still standing, I sat down on my bed mat and rested my aching back against the cold stone walls, letting the sound of the others' soft snores wash over me as I contemplated my life.

  The starting line may have evened out with cured bodies, but people still had head starts depending on what abilities they got. It was like trying to outbid someone born with a trust fund while working minimum wage; it just wasn't going to happen, no matter how fair the world claimed to be. I had four abilities, and I was still the same weak kid coughing up blood on the hospital bed. Four abilities, and yet I had almost died more than anyone. Four abilities, and I still can't win a single spar. Four abilities, and I still stay quiet because I'm scared of the backlash. My hand curls into a fist as I glare into the darkness.

  "Guess I'll just have to try harder," I whisper into the black with a strained grin and take out a small crystal from my inventory and inspect its irregular shape with fingers that dance over its glossy surface. As far as I could tell, eating the gems yesterday hadn't caused any adverse effects that Ella or I were able to discover. Not that I told her about my activities. Regardless, I was still wary. It wasn't every day a spirit demon gave you a warning about something, even if it was some weird double bluff.

  So I started small. The leech crystals were the smallest I had come across so far, even smaller than the barnacles, so that's where I'd start. I don't remember much about what happened the last time I tried to eat the strange gems. I was somewhat preoccupied, but this time I paid extra attention as I swallowed the magical crystal.

  It was like swallowing a small ember that travelled down my throat until it reached my stomach and became a small bonfire. It raged and burned within me, an angry ball of energy that quickly burst out of my stomach to fill my body with power, only to dissipate into the stone tunnels a moment later. But as it left, it seemed to pull parts of me out with it. Small, almost unnoticeable beads of something seeped out of my flesh.

  A frown slips into places on my face as I rub a small drop of liquid between my fingers before it stains my clothes. I brought my fingers to my face, but I couldn't make anything out in the dark other than the unmistakable foul smell. I've had enough infections in my life to recognise the scent of pus and blood; it was one of the many joys of having an… interesting immune system.

  'But why was my body pushing out dead cells when it consumed energy?' I take a small sip of the healing tonic and watch the soothing energy with interest, but it just sits in my gut, slowly becoming inert.

  'Hmmm, the cultivation stories often spoke about removing imperfections and impurities, and if I were refining my body with other worldly energies, it would make sense. But still…' I eat another Leech crystal but make no move to try to direct or contain the foreign power as it once again swells outward from my body, causing more pus and dead cells to bleed from my pores.

  'It made Mia's pet slightly stronger, faster and bigger, but only cleans out my damaged cells? But why would a creature made by the Gods have any cell impurities?'

  The thoughts danced around in my head for a while, but no clear answer came, so I made a note in my book to think about it later and carried on eating the glorified rock candy. But this time I tried to influence the energy in some way, but the progress was slow.

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  My history of mystical powers was limited and consisted only of the last eight days. So when my novice abilities met the unwieldy energy, very little happened. Another gem down, and this time I was able to hold the power in my stomach for maybe an extra second. If I was being generous. Progress was slow, but it was still there as I munched through leech crystals, only leaving 10 to trade with in the future. By now, I was smelling terrible, with all the impurities leaving my body, and I was able to push the energy in the general direction I wanted it to go within my mortal coil.

  I was about to start eating what I had left of the Barnacle crystals when I picked up the void shape of Noah stirring within my perception of matter. I quickly stored away the gem I was eyeing in my hand and waited for the rest of the group to wake up. It didn't take long, and soon we were having a quick breakfast before packing up.

  With everything cleaned up, we were once again headed off into the dark passages of stone. My body felt ever so slightly enhanced as I walked and fought my way through the tunnels and Cave Crawlers, but my abilities felt the same as before, leading me to believe that whatever weird energy I was cultivating was affecting only my physical form and ignoring any physical connection to my powers.

  Of course, I am working off very little knowledge and data and can only really give a vague estimate of a 5-10% increase in my body. However, my lack of data did not stop me from making notes in my sketchbook about future experiments I intended to conduct once we had stopped for our nightly rest again.

  But until then, I was occupied by trying to bend rock and develop echolocation as we ran from one Army, 'It was apparently what a group of centipedes is called, according to Ava,' of Cave Crawlers to another, collecting their venom, crystals and armour.

  I had also gotten into the habit of storing away the hearts of our kills in bite-sized portions that I could deposit directly into my mouth as we ran and fought. Needless to say, they tasted disgusting. The idea was that they would have a high concentration of beneficial nutrients, making it easier for my body to process what it needs and allowing me to grow faster.

  After discussing athletics training with Noah, I also decided to breathe as little as possible to try to increase the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in my bloodstream and make my body more efficient at using oxygen to produce energy. Or something like that. I didn't get the technical jargon he listed off as we ran through the tunnels, but I decided to give it a try with my adaptive body and ability, allowing me to not breathe it should work and not be too noticeable. I hope.

  Despite my new training regime incorporated into our running, I noticed that Sam was becoming increasingly short-tempered and paranoid, trying to make us turn around for no apparent reason. Okay, that's a lie- Mia told me when I failed to pick up on it and was making things worse. She said something about him being upset about the death of the cannibal snake lady and wanting to join the group from the uni. I just nodded along and tried to give him space.

  Two hours quickly passed with me forgetting not to breathe and eating raw hearts like one of those fake naturalist bodybuilders who definitely don't use steroids, until we came across something new. A forest of webs blocked off our narrow passage, alluding to spiders. Very large, very angry spiders that shot balls of webs out of their mouths and whatever the ass-looking body part is called.

  "It's an abdomen, Jacob," Ave corrects me as I use my body as a human shield to protect Noah and liquefy the webbing. It was still sticky, but most of it ran off my body as I jumped towards one of the labrador-sized arachnids in the 5-spider cluster. They had venomous-looking fangs easily the size of my fingers and large blade-like legs that they used to scuttle across the walls and viciously stab at us.

  I barely dodge its long chitin-covered legs as I liquify the floor, trapping the appendage upon impact. But with seven other legs and fangs, it didn't stop the arachnophobe's nightmare from trying to skewer me like a kebab. Lucky, with one leg down and its webs rendered useless, the large tunnel spider wasn't that much of a threat as long as I continued to dodge. I think while getting stabbed in the calf, its blade-like legs tearing through the seam of my armour and into my leg.

  Quickly solidifying my blood to stop it from going any further, I let out a hiss of pain before jumping onto the enlarged spider and repeatedly stabbing it in the eye until I reached its mushy brain matter that leaks out of the empty eye holes as its corpse collapses. Rolling to the side, I hurl the melted corpse onto its comrade, causing it to become trapped in the resolidified chitin with blood and guts flying everywhere.

  Trusting the improvised restraints would hold, I use the trapped monster as a springboard and launch myself at my next target while ignoring the stinging pain in my leg. Large fangs try to meet my descent, but a quick submerged hand in the roof allows me to swing over and behind the engorged spider. Rose-steel descends into its joint connecting its abdomen and upper body, making it squeal in pain as blood begins to drip from the wound.

  'This is far more fun than the centipedes.' I let a smile form on my face and let out a soft laugh before quickly dodging a sharpened void in my senses and spinning around to see a leg trying to impale me. I just grin and melt the stone it lands upon, trapping my would-be assailant before I continue dissecting the injured spider and manage to kill it in time to see Noah and Eva kill the two trapped spiders while Mia and Sam finish off the last creepy crawly together.

  "Must you always fight like you have a death wish, Jacob?" Ella asks in an accusatory tone as she gestures for me to come back so she can patch up my leg and Sam's bruise.

  "Sorry," I mutter as my leg finishes stitching itself together with Ellas' power before I start to collect a few legs, balls of webbing, crystals and some new venom.

  "Yeah, we could have used your help with some of the webbing," Sam says with a scowl as he struggles to rip off a few thick white strands of webbing so he can continue to scratch his head absentmindedly, a habit he seemed to pick up within the last few hours.

  "Oh yeah, that's a good point." I hum to myself while ripping apart a spider's head to look for treasure. "I will try to help out more next time, ah, there you are." I collect the crystal and venom before moving on to the next corpse.

  After collecting all the available crystals and a few choice corpse parts, we moved on with our journey, running through the tunnels and training in our own way. We came across more groups of Spiders and another water cave, which we cleared out without much hassle, now that we knew what to expect from the various monsters. Despite this, the spear-tongued leech thing still managed to piece my leg, causing me to use up more of the healing tonic before taking it back to my friends who by now had become accustomed to the leech eels, in an effort to discover the monsters mentioned in the challenge.

  On the plus side, the influx of small crystals from the leeches allowed me to trade with my friends for 11 of the spider crystals at a rate of 1 leech and 1 Cave crawler crystal or three leech crystals per spider crystal. This exchange rate was based on the rough size of each monster's crystals and our assumption that it would determine the price once we could finally leave this claustrophobic hell. It was depressing that the only thing keeping me sane in this tight maze of stone and stagnant air was the training and fighting the seemingly endless monsters.

  'Probably not a good sign for my mental state, but I was built for freedom Wheels, damn it…why is there a wall of darkness?'

  We stopped to look at the end of the tunnel, only to see a wall of pitch-black that swallowed up the light from the glow moss and flashlight. It almost seemed to grow out of the hole, with patches of the complete absence of light spotted around the tunnel, growing denser the closer to the hole we got.

  'Huh, I wonder what fresh horror will come out of mystery hole number 2?'