I've been exploring for days now. There are a lot of chambers, and many are just not safe to enter. Some have bodies of water that you need to cross to get in—and while that might seem like just my thing, there are schools of piranha that make crossing the larger ones difficult. These fish are many but small and low level, so I get no XP from them. They taste okay, but not great, and it's nearly impossible to catch one without having twenty others take a bite out of you. Overall, piranha fishing is a net nutrient loss and just not worth the effort.

  One chamber had a six-legged jaguar which nearly ended me. I was only able to escape by running into a level 27 bee's nest to unleash the swarm on both of us. Having since crossed one of the smaller piranha ponds, I'm hoping the big cat won't be able to track me.

  I've destroyed a bunch of bee's nests but haven't returned to the crazy big one. With carrier swine numbers dwindling, I'm trying to only take them out one at a time now. It would be unwise to eliminate my best food source too quickly. Speaking of which, there's something very unnatural about these labyrinth mobs. Eating a whole pig doesn't really fill me up as much as it should. And eating a piranha is barely satisfying at all. Also, there are no kiddie mobs anywhere, and only rarely do any of them wander outside thier own chambers.

  Everything in the labyrinth obeys different rules. Bones decay too quickly. Grass and trees recover from damage faster than you would expect. The lack of biodiversity is also striking—there were more species of insect hidden between gaps in the stonework behind my cage in Perlin than inhabit this entire sector.

  Since that rude pitchfork-and-net attack, I've stopped bothering to make ‘cages’ to sleep in. Nothing can make me feel safe at night anymore. It also doesn't help that there is no night here. There's no sun—yet, somehow, light always shines down from above. Everywhere feels exposed. I guess I could crawl down one of the abandoned swine burrows for cover, but that went bad for the pigs themselves, so maybe not.

  I'm not gaining XP anymore. The higher level swine are all gone now, the bees and piranha are too low level, and the jaguars and giant bees are too dangerous. I'm still at level 18, so I've leveled up only once in this place. It feels like less than it should be based on the number of fights.

  There are clear signs that something more intelligent than these mobs is active in this sector. Piles of burnt wood and bones can be found in conspicuous places. With little else to do, I'm now stealthily following their trail.

  Vassos (sentient), level 49*

  base class: human, (physique->endurance#1, equipment->weapons#1), level 16

  primary class: battle-disruptor (intrusion->compulsion#2, mind->alertness#2, support->coordination#1), level 20

  secondary class: infiltrator (avoidance->stealth#2, physique->endurance#2, mind->alertness#2), level 13

  I wake up and see this man—wrapped in a tatted and heavily stained cloak—sitting on a boulder facing me. It might look like I'm free to run or attack, but he reminds me of some of the old arena handlers: alert but not nervous, like he believes I might attack, but doesn't consider me a threat.

  There's another one, nearby with their back turned to me, a child tending to a fire—burning food, as humans do.

  Chase (sentient), level 23

  base class: human, (physique->endurance#1, equipment->weapons#1), level 9

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  primary class: kinetic sharpshooter (sense->sight#3, force->focus#2, equipment->weapons#2, motion->agility#1), level 14

  Will I be tied up with a net, or have a hook stabbed into my throat? Why not just kill me in my sleep? Will they be doing something perverse like feeding me weird elixirs or forcing me to fight random prisoners who could easily be executed with less fanfare? Maybe I'll be shoved down another portal to somewhere even stranger.

  You know what? there's no point trying to anticipate anything these parasites do. The one thing I know for certain is: they won't be satisfied with simply killing me. So, whatever this is, all I can do is endure and wait for an opportunity to escape again.

  The boy comes over and hands a plate of burnt piranha to the older one, who proceeds to eat in front of me. I would make a remark on how rude this is—given that I can smell it—but to my surprise, a second plate is placed in front of me next.

  Chase sits down next to the older Vassos and starts eating his share. It certainly does smell edible, and they are eating it too... In my experience, if they intend to make you swallow something gross, they usually bring a funnel and don't just leave it in front of you. The piranha flesh is charred and flaky. Salt crystals crunch as I bite into it. Oh wow! This is piranha? but where is the nasty aftertaste? Ah, and the salt! The salt really bring out the flavor!

  Wait! Let's not get too excited here. Nothing is ever simple with these creatures. I grab one last piranha and slowly reverse away, making it clear that I'm stealing it. I' am not accepting any gifts, okay!

  The two of them are talking now, but they aren't making any moves to follow me. I really want to go grab another fish, but pride wont let me. What is all of this even about? Considering how long it took me to figure out why Perlin was training hydra, I doubt I'd be able to figure this out here and now.

  Making no sudden movements, I continue backing away until the line of sight connecting us is broken. The humans don't follow.

  It's strange. This chamber had been cleared out before, and somehow there are new pigs already. Some are only level 1 and the highest is 4. In terms of size though, they're not much smaller than the stronger ones I fought earlier. Still, food is becoming scarce, and dungeon mobs just aren't as filling as one would expect.

  I've worked out a routine for hunting these things: Step one, stand in the middle of the chamber with your back turned to their burrows and try to look oblivious. Step two, grab them when they charge into you.

  They would be better off just launching moths at me first, but these things have a predictable opening move. Though, at these low levels, their poison is barely a hindrance, so it makes no difference either way. Really, the only winning strategy would be running from me, but they seem to stubbornly territorial.

  I heard it coming only a split second before impact. Having no flanks makes it easy for me to deal with attacks coming in from odd directions. No need to turn around, just twist heads number four and five to face backwards. I catch it while sustaining little more than a few scratches. I don't even bother to bring out woundweaver when dealing with small fry like this.

  Woosh!

  What was that! An arrow pierces the carrier swine's neck and it falls limp. When did the humans get here?! Vassos walks up to what should have been my kill and rudely drags it away. Fury boils up inside me, but I cannot act on it. He's too strong. I watch helplessly from a distance as the human proceeds to butcher the stolen food.

  The boy, Chase, builds a fire and starts grilling bits of meat on the ends of sharpened stakes as the older human carves them off. It smells so good, and look, he's adding salt. Salt! This is too cruel. Okay, I've made up my mind. It's time to assert myself. I might be weaker than these two, but if I stand by meekly as they take my food, I will starve.

  I slither up to Chase and grab one of the sticks with a burnt shank impaled on its end. With as much dignity as I can project, I move to my own eating spot. The humans are making noise now, but don't move to re-steal the food. I continue to take bits and pieces and soon the three of us have finished all of it.

  I turn my back on them and leave—no more cowering or slowly reversing away from now on. If they ever do decide to kill or capture me, there would be little I could do to stop it.

  It's been weeks and the humans are always nearby, greedily waiting for me to act as pig bait. I don't bother to keep my distance anymore. There's no point. Sometimes the boy catches piranha with a net. Earlier, I tried catching some with my own crude fish-trap, but the ponds they live in have no current or shallow parts. The traps I can make rely on current to funnel fish, and just don't work here.

  The two humans sometimes share grilled piranha with me, even though I don't help catching them. Is it possible that these two are not parasites? No. I shouldn't jump to conclusion. Stay cautious. I might turn my back to them physically now, but I won't do it metaphorically. You get into a certain routine, and then, one day, suddenly, the humans change all the rules. That was how it was before. Sometimes unpredictability is all you can predict.

  It's best to have an escape plan, but how can I escape these creatures? I know now that I'd never truly succeeded in sneaking past them. Chase sees and hears everything. System tells me that that is exactly what (sense->sight#) is about, and one would expect that— with it being at (#3)—his class must give some strong abilities.

  Vassos is kind-of the reverse of Chase. Where Chase notices every movement, Vassos is good at not being noticed. He sometimes sneaks into the jaguar chambers only to emerge much later unharmed. Chase never enters the jaguar chambers. Nor do I. There is no way I could sneak past those things—and even if I did, Vassos could still follow me. Really, I can think of no way to rid myself of these humans. It feels bad to be powerless. Bad, but not unfamiliar.