She sighed she couldn't even fly up because the trees covered the skies above, she kept her exploration, surely this forest had to have an end to it right? As Alice explored her [Supernatural Sense] went off, she felt danger right as she was about to place her foot down, she looked downwards and noticed a large amount of leaves gathered, oddly these ones did not seem overtly sharp like the ones on the trees, she brushed them gently to the side and realized someone or something had left a trap. That was... concerning? That either meant Human hunters or... monsters with enough smarts to set up traps for other monsters.
She deftly avoided it, circling around the trap before she kept going. She needed to find somewhere safe to evolve but she wasn't sure where. This entire forest reeked of death, she was pretty sure she was still somewhere low within the Cave, is this really where [Adventurer]'s exited the Lower Dungeons at? Or had something gone terribly wrong... well clearly something had gone terribly wrong. The whole dungeon had gone crazy when she tried to leave.
Wait! Anno and the others hadn't warned her how the dungeon would react to a Monster trying to leave it! Or maybe they didn't know... that made more sense. At least that's what she told herself, she didn't want Anno to be bad, the [Healer] had been quite kind to her all things considered. Aside from Xana who was a Salamander she didn't have any friends in this world. Although Xana probably thought she was dead now... hopefully things were fine back in her Sector.
She frowned, thinking about how the Plaguemaster had gotten stronger from her mothers death. How the Rats in general had seemed stronger, but she was stronger now as well! And if she could find somewhere to evolve she'd be even stronger! She let out a breath, she had to focus, focus on escaping this place. She still had so many goals and she wasn't about to let a poorly colored forest prevent her from completing them.
Along her exploring she suddenly stopped... and then sniffed at the air, was that... it couldn't be... the smell of cooked meat? In this forest? It was a better lead than nothing. She followed the scent skulking forward when she began to hear sounds, possibly voices? What she discovered... was extremely unexpected. She had found a village? There were houses made of the pink wood of the trees and... strange beings walked around.
They were shorter than Anno and the others had been, and all looked... just a bit different than each other? Some had large long noses that dripped down their chests, others had ears that were so big they hung off to the side, one had a long snout for a mouth while everything else looked like a short human. Keenly all of them had unnatural skin, pink, green, blue, purple, orange. Some had horns and others had beaks, the only constant for them was the short height.
In the center of the village she saw some kind of creature with scales and a long horn on its head, it almost looked like a unicorn but with scales instead of hair? Regardless it wasn't alive so it didn't matter, it had a pole through its body and was currently hanging over a fire. What was most important however... was that the sky was exposed. She could escape! But... hm, a monster society? It might be prudent to interact with, and with the sky exposed the worst case scenario she could fly away.
Alice moved slowly and carefully heading into the Village, beings stopped and began to whisper to each other as they saw her. Before a figure approached, it had a massive flat face that was twice the size of its body with tusks coming out from its lower teeth, big wide eyes staring at her.
It spoke and... Alice didn't understand a word. The words themselves had a harsh and guttural tone to them but it wasn't a language that she understood. She just tilted her head in confusion, her ears flopping to the side before she brought it back up.
"Hello?"
She attempted to squeak at the creature but it showed no sign of recognition. Things were... beginning to make sense. She hadn't understood the Skeletons language either, partially due to her unique language but not completely. There must be different kinds of monsters each with their own kind of language. So while she could speak freely with and understand [Animal] type monsters that didn't translate to whatever these things were.
There was... one option. Alice began to dig Human words into the dirt in hopes that somehow this creature understood them. It frowned for a bit before shouting something, shortly after a very stout creature with wirelike hair came over, its bulging eyes confined in glass bulbs it looked at her words with interest, a long snout that was flat at the end opened up.
"Ah you speak [Human]? How interesting. Welcome to Safe Place, I am Grub. What is your name?"
Alice thought for a moment before she put her name into the dirt in Human.
"Welcome Alice, it is strange to see a Bat in a Goblin Village."
Goblin? So these were goblins? Huh, they looked different than she was used to seeing in media but then again, this was an entirely different world not some story in a book. She thought for a moment before she began to dig in the dirt again, writing the word for lost.
"Oh? You are lost? And somehow ended up in this place, well it is lucky you found us rather than the Red King."
Red King? Another title? Monsters loved their titles it seemed, but considering where she was... maybe this one meant a bit more than the previous. She looked to the sky, it would probably be good to simply fly from this place, maybe come back another day?
"Hm? Ah, yes you do have wings. I will warn you little one, the skies are not entirely safe but as long as you are swift you should be fine."
She was pretty fast... and had a speedy skill she could use. But... she also wanted to evolve. And this place was literally called Safe Place.
She wrote into the dirt once more, a single world. Evolution?
Grub paused, looking around. It seemed to be considering it.
"Well we have a lot of different evolutionary paths here. Some-"
Alice began to squeak, realizing it had misunderstood her question, she began patting her chest.
"Oh! You're looking to safely evolve I take it? Well this would probably be the best place."
His snout turned to a smile, which showed rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. It was unsettling but... it was clear it wasn't smiling in a malicious way, it couldn't help that it had three rows of teeth. That was just part of its species. She had her own sharp fangs after all.
Alice nodded and Grub motioned for her to follow, she followed after it, being led to a house that was more of a shack than anything. Grub opened the door revealing a rather barren empty room.
"This is the Evolution Chamber, where all us goblins evolve, gives enough room in case you end up reaching the Ogre or Hobgoblin paths."
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
So there were branching species paths for goblins, that was interesting. She had gone down a variant path but not a species path like that. Alice slowly moved into the room, Grub followed and showed her a rope.
"This here, once you pull it will have a bar fall down and lock the door, ensuring nothing comes in while you're doing your evolvin. And this, this here rope pulls it off."
Alice nodded along, Grub gave her a smile and then walked out closing the door behind it. Alice moved and pulled down on the rope, BANG! A wooden bar fell down impacting two hooks that kept it in place over the center of the door. She noticed the rope to open the door had gotten higher, she followed it with her eyes realizing it was attached to a hook on the wooden bar.
She sighed, it was time... she had to go back to that place again. She opened up her Evolution Interface, and selected yes on evolving.
She waited for the sleep to come but... it didn't? She was given a screen of her evolution options.
[Prime Bat]
[Prime Giant Bat]
[Adult Mana Bat(Unlock Requirement: Have Access to Mana [Fulfilled])]
[Adult Shade Bat (Unlock Requirement: Reach evolution on the cusp of death [Fulfilled])]
[Adult Arcane Bat (Unlock Requirement: Have Access to Magic [Fulfilled])]
[Adult Spined Bat]
[Adult Blood Bat (Unlocked via Prior Evolution)]
[Adult Shadow Bat (Unlock Requirement: Have the favor of The Q- Aha almost got spoiled [Definitely Fulfilled~])]
[Adult Devil Bat (Unlock Requirement: Have the favor of Malice [Fulfilled])]
[Blood Slime (Unlock Requirement: Consume the life of multiple Slimes through a blood drinking ability {WARNING! THIS WILL LOCK YOU OUT OF OTHER PATHS} [Fulfilled])]
[Adult Vampire Bat (Unlock Requirement: Drink the blood of 10 different creatures [Fulfilled])]
[Young Curse Bat (Seek unholy vengeance upon another, access to curse magic [Not Fulfilled])]
[Fae Bat (Unlock Requirement: Convince creatures of three different races to assist you, Access to Charm[Fulfilled])]
A Fae Bat? And Blood Slime? Those were... different, not what she expected. But also not choices she wanted. The Fae Bat was tempting, truly but... in truth the idea of becoming a Vampire appealed to her more than becoming a fairy, besides she didn't want to be small forever!
Alice picked the Adult Vampire Bat, hoping it would lead to her gaining access to further and greater evolutions. And then... darkness took her, as she passed out... and then she awoke? No Dark Place, no horrible torture, it was... so... refreshing, so nice, so... amazing, she began to tear up, crying from happiness, she hadn't had to endure torture to progress, she was... was safe. Maybe it wouldn't happen again? She wasn't sure, but she hoped so.
Administrator Taum looked over the screen letting out a sigh of relief.
"Who finally managed to fix the error? I was worried our Passenger was going to eventually go mad."
No one answered, and Taum raised an eyebrow.
"Well anyone? Credit is good, you know, it goes towards your yearly bonus."
A person spoke up, their voice holding a slight tremble to it.
"We... We don't know why Passenger Alice 5582 did not once again witness the evolution process. Her... record has been sealed from us, live data is all were allowed to access Sir."
Taum cursed the Poet, if it had been locked that meant a Director was involved.
"Record everything, I want a constant update on this Passenger. I don't care if a Director orders you not to. It is our duty to ensure there are no problems with the Script, they are not the Poet."
His voice was firm. And then there was a clap.
"Oh don't worry Administrator Taum I didn't do anything, it was... an Operator who declared the file locked. But I do love the show of authority. Keeping your Scribes in check."
Taum looked at the red skinned woman with irritation.
"You're telling me an Operator has been assigned to this Passenger? There hasn't been a sign of an Operator in twenty cycles. Why this one?"
The woman smiled, he hated that smile, he hated everything about the Directors but this one in particular he hated the most.
"The Script I gave the Conductors to give to her and Passenger Lily 2245... well it wasn't just a Script, it was a Manuscript. By the Woman Stained By Color."
Taum looked at her with shock, and then anger.
"Are you insane! That... that thing is dangerous! By the Poet... do you..."
The Director just laughed at his frustrations.
"Don't worry so much, I've been altering it further, by the time I'm done... well I'm sure at the very least Turia won't be completely shattered. Unless our Passengers royally fuck up."
Taum didn't respond, he just looked over to the screen, on it a beautiful Bat stood, about the size of a medium sized dog, its long silken black fur shined, long dangerous fangs poked out of its snout and big long ears twitched and flicked to every noise. Glowing red eyes looking over its newfound body with delight and interest, its claws had razor sharp long talons on the middle point, if anything it was looking more like some kind of Wyvern bat rather than a normal bat.
Alice was happy, she felt a lot stronger! And her body had grown a sizable amount, this was great! She pulled on the rope to release the door, and stepped out, only to see fire, suddenly she was very acutely aware that the inside of the shack had soundproofing to ensure you wouldn't hear anything from outside. A defensive measure maybe but it meant she had not heard the screaming. Safe Place was currently under attack... and the corpses of goblins littered the ground.