- Location
- A nondescript grave
Ah so he shouldn't have been worrying about sentient vegetables and should have been worrying about sentient (holy sage? 
) cows
) cows 
Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
Quixotic_being
Fulfilling every contract to the letter
They should have known better than to ask before he landed. Now they have to deal with the ancient poison squid.
Norr
Misophist
- Location
- Any chair
I was thinking a bit about Adam's sleep deprived musing on vore veggies, and realised reality is much stranger.
Pollinators are paid in nectar for remote insemination services.
Animals are paid in fruit to provide taxi a service for infants.
Which are then left in a hostile environment with a chunk of cash and expected to thrive or die.
On the other hand, parasites are the true 'voreors'.
Pollinators are paid in nectar for remote insemination services.
Animals are paid in fruit to provide taxi a service for infants.
Which are then left in a hostile environment with a chunk of cash and expected to thrive or die.
On the other hand, parasites are the true 'voreors'.
Tapeworms are the epitome of vore fetishists.
Fetishers? Fetish-ists? Vore-ees? There must be a word for this but I haven't been part of the fetish fandom in a decade, my degeneracy is rusty.
Last edited:
I'm too tired to care right now; your attempt to disturb has failed.
... also, semi-relevant to the story. The game Idle Harvest, by Tetronomics (apparently only, officially, on Kongregate)
- Location
- In the Depths, Lurking...
*holds up score card* 5.6 The commitment was there but his form was atrocious and that splash was gratuitous.
In other news, is Adam now raising a baby beholder or is this just the infant stage of Commander Peepers? Also Tianshi is way too desensitized to her Da's nonsense.
In other news, is Adam now raising a baby beholder or is this just the infant stage of Commander Peepers? Also Tianshi is way too desensitized to her Da's nonsense.
Arc 2: You can check out any time you like...
- Location
- Here
That. Was. Embarrassing.
Adam flexed his body, feeling his body shift back into a more healthy state. Liquids in general tend to resist movement at higher velocities... if Adam had been traveling at free fall velocities, he may have only dove so deep.
But at the speed he had achieved? His skeletal system was powdered. Every muscle torn, most organs pulverized... Yeah, it was bad.
Didn't stop there, either. The impact ended up crushing his internal Adams over twelve levels deep.
Even a number of his Cultivation Cells exploded due to the impact. Which was the major reason for the delay in healing... any undamaged cells just shifted back into place fairly quickly. And he didn't want to pull the reserve storage mode Cultivation Cells out for something so minor.
Trying to look around... yeah, that was pointless. This water was naturally dark due to the floating junk in it combined with the odd chemicals, and the massive layer of gray moss acting like a shade umbrella didn't exactly brighten up the area either.
Still... there WERE big things down here.
Adam pulsed his spiritual energy as subtly as Rockette could handle. It would reduce his reach significantly, but by using a thin disk of his domain as a carrier wave he SHOULD get something close to a scan of the black water...
Oh.
...Oh shit.
Right, the fuck away: Let's get to it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam surfaced as he tore through the moss... and Rockette formed on his shoulder, little Tianshi's giggles matching with Sister Quan's laughter. Sounded like a few guards were sniggering in the background too.
Move, move, move.
The rock vibrated. "Da, you made an AMAZING splash! I couldn't SEE how high the water went!"
Move, move, move.
The laughter quieted down... and the mood became a little odd. "Young Sage? You... you are not moving in the correct direction."
Adam nodded. "Change in plans. We are running this way until we leave the Corpse Bog entirely. Maybe a bit further."
...Yeah, that killed the mood. Sister Quan sighed. "What happened? Did you find something underwater?"
A guard jumped in. "It wasn't that tentacled thing again, was it?"
He shook his head. "Worse."
Move, move, move.
The guards seemed hesitant to ask... but Tianshi was young enough to not read the mood. "What did you see Da?"
Adam focused on increasing his speed, Momentum Redirection pushing his limits higher. "Couldn't directly see anything, was too dark down there. But I had Rockette do a subtle scan, just to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me."
Enough speed was built up that he could waste a little of it to float above the moss itself and split the wind resistance blocking his progression. "There were a lot of Spirit Beasts, sure. But even when using the most subtle observation method I know, I was still able to reach back to the 'White Tower' I just jumped from."
The lead guard was serious. "Did it move!?"
Adam sighed, speed still increasing. "Worse. At least bad in my opinion because of what it suggests."
He forced more and more energy into the area, sacrificing internal Qi to push even further ahead. "Did anyone ask themselves... what the 'Bone Walker' was standing on? I mean under the white tower legs."
One of the guards seemed hesitant. "I... I didn't think about it. Was it a... rock or something?" Another one sighed. "Was it a bone mountain?"
Adam felt his face fall into a frown. "Under the water, under the white tower... was a black tower."
He did not look back as he ran. "I think the 'Bone Walker' has two halves. The Yin half, which we climbed and was similar to the Yin pond we found... and the portion under the Corpse Bog."
No wonder the water was black. "The Yang half."
Tianshi seemed distracted. "If they are like... opposites of each other... Would the Yang half be all arms and covered in mouthes?"
Adam ran faster.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The lead guard turned to her people. "Get back to work."
Seriously, there was nothing they could do but get stronger and wait for Adam to escape this god damned swamp of death and eldritch monstrosities.
...Maybe once they escape the bog, she would stop having moments of soul wrenching terror with images of black hands reaching out of the murk to drag them down.
Down into the depths to be consumed by an antispider covered in moving mouths.
With a shiver she got busy managing the rest of her team. Anything to avoid focusing on how powerless this situation made her feel, despite her years of cultivation advancement and decades of technique practice.
Why did it matter if she could hurl fire? Would heat even be NOTICED by the whatever it was down there!?
...Maybe she should go to her cultivation cave and just... meditate for a while. Settle her emotions.
Glancing at the screen, where the most powerful boy she had ever met was fleeing as fast as he could with some underlayer of fear hidden on a serious face...
Yes. Some meditation and self reflection would help. Her being emotionally compromised wouldn't help anyone.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Is it following? Shit. No, right?
Should he check?
But what if it WAS following him?
Adam glanced at his hand... and it was shaking.
...Whatever was down there, it CLEARLY was affecting his mind. Might have been doing so for a long time too... it just got super noticeable as he tried to LEAVE the Bog.
Which was fine, he had wanted out of this damn swamp BEFORE being forced to feel raw fear. It must be some kind of conceptual terrorizing ability though, because two Adam's had their hearts destabilized before he even detected the danger.
Tianshi would have likely suffered brain damage if she had been under that strain.
Like... shit. The poison and spores and stuff were NOTHING compared to that raw terror being emitted from under the water. No, it was VERY good that he had decided to walk on top of that whole mess, probably slowed down this whole process of fear insertion.
But yeah, fuck this place.
At this point, Adam was traveling so fast it was damaging the moss and what few bushes and stray trees were being passed. A slow moving 'V' wave was spreading behind the control of his Domain, anything disturbed unable to react before he was long gone.
Rockette was doing her best to keep the disturbance low... but his current speed forced him to fly head first, the wind far too strong for him to change orientation without slowing things down significantly.
Even abusing his domain... well, he would leave traces. Which might not even be a bad thing... if something was following him, he didn't want to LOSE the monster and have it accidentally choose the RIGHT direction, leading it towards the Burning Sword Sect.
Despite the stress, and the growing fear that the LACK of problems was the first sign that he was wandering straight into an ambush... time passed with only his fears catching up to him.
Mostly.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Run.
He had stopped listening to Rockette, he needed to run.
Flee.
No time to drink.
Faster.
Can't waste time eating.
Further.
Sleep for the weak.
Only his domain was guiding his path.
His eyes were closed.
Only his customized technique allowed his body to move.
Limbs were heavy.
His muscles were sore.
Light was dim.
Must move faster.
Unnoticed to the boy, his curse marks were pitch black, pulsing, and straining against his tattoo restrictions, trying to corrode something not physical.
Because the Yin poisons collected so far attempted to corrupt his body... while the new Yang poison from Beneath was trying to decay his mind and sense of self.
Worse... A malevolent guiding force was ensuring that every individual assault was more effective, perfectly timed...
An energy equally as dangerous as the Yin types gathered, but a type his body hadn't had a chance to adapt to at all. An attack from an unknown foe.
His soul and mind were fighting... with little if any progress. Each attempt to break free, to adapt, was causing his mind to lose focus and slowly blank away. Losing ground. Falling...
As the Yang energies infiltrated his curse tattoos... they began to spread internally, to the recurring copies of himself within... assuming it to be a deeper, untouched weakness to grow within. How unfortunate.
For the new poison.
And the one trying to guide it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked.
Everything was clear... but something very weak was trying to dig into his thoughts.
What... what happened?
A movement of spiritual energy... and he realized several things.
First, he was not Adam Prime.
He was one of the recursion Adams, buried deep with the conceptual layers.
Specifically, he was Adam 312, with over three hundred Adams above him in the layer chain.
...Those Adams were struggling.
He absently reached out and gripped the 'worm'. A mouth with a tail, dark black body... even the fangs were pitch dark, the maw exposed a cavity of hunger.
This was the infiltrating Yang poison. One being directed by this strange conceptual force... pure Yang energy didn't have this type of motivation behind it.
Was it even truly focused at Adam directly?
No... it was more a general rage and desire to destroy.
Still, choices had been made... thus there must be consequences.
Adam looked at the squirming worm of poison.
At this level? This far inside Rockette's concept of recursion?
Things were a bit... flexible.
His face split open, jaws unhinged, teeth sharpening into needle fangs...
After all, he had recently made techniques to 'Consume' land, concepts, forests...
The worm screamed, and tried to flee. So near, so close, an army of worms could save it. An ocean of poison would allow it to escape. The remainder of its power could have strengthened it.
Then Adam's jaws clenched on the strange flesh... and it died.
Adam idly chewed as he examined the small fragment being chewed and absorbed.
There were... hooks.
Twisted barbs, that were not physical... more mental triggers. When they found a thought or concept that they were close to matching, they would latch onto the creature (Or Adam in this case) and slowly tear holes into the minds and souls of the target.
Each attack was focused on FIRST destroying the ability to detect the attacks. After being crippled and unable to sense the danger, it would try and corrode willpower and sense of self... to just generally remove the ability for the target to defend itself.
And it worked. On many Adams.
But not on all of them.
Nor on the many, MANY more layers below.
A thought had the Adam below share an undamaged sample of Soul and Mind. Another had Adam compare it with his OWN damaged mind... and rapidly repair the damage while 'Research' examined the Soul differences.
Several weak areas used to enter the mind... then set aside, while the Yang poison was directed to open new, more obvious holes for attack from within. It was another layer of defence, so that if someone attempted to resist being destroyed they would defend the wrong areas of the mind and self.
This tainted Yang Beast clearly had goals.
The lost memories? Everything to do with the Yin Bone walker. Everything to do with the larger beasts in the Corpse Bog. Basically, anything interesting was being harvested from his mind and soul.
...Certainly explained the lack of Sect reports about this place.
At the same time, this worm was trying to dig out his own memories, to tear his thoughts and learn about the world around it... or simply what targets needed to be assaulted if he managed to escape.
Thankfully, his mind was... not normal. And his Soul was intricately bound to Rockette... who was still fighting off each attempt by the invader.
The data gathered was... insufficient. Only the bare fingertip of a foothold, against a master of mental attacks and soul damage. His other selves were being further and further damaged, even as examined the remains of this one worm.
He glanced upward.
All that said... even with only the most tiny of advantages...
Well, Adam had done more with less before.
His unnatural mouth opened wider into a grin... a blue tongue of flame absently escaping his maw and licking his needle teeth.
So some self important fragment of a Spirit Beast, riding a wave of tainted Yang energy, was so self assured that it could consume Adam? Seemed a bit backward.
After all, he was a tad peckish.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The Yang worms were slowly digging deeper. The overall assault had slowed considerably after discovering this hidden defensive area. Clearly, this odd place with so many targets was some sort of artificial method to block away the true center, the most valuable data!
The fragment of spirit controlling the worms was far too distracted now to fully watch all the different combat fronts... but it didn't matter. Every single target was easily compromised, then slowly being corrupted... eventually this Cultivator would start opening his own defenses, attacking the same mental structures required to prevent future assaults...
Like all previous prey, he would fail, expose all secrets, and beg to be devoured.
It would be glorious! So delicious! So fulfilling!
Thousands of tiny mouths tried to focus on these odd patterns hidden away. They would all be infected, they would all offer their treasures to the nest.
The thoughts of the worm cut off as a claw like hand suddenly clutched its rubbery flesh!
NO!
NO THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
It didn't HAVE flesh! It was pure energy!
Struggling was... no, it was failing! It couldn't move!
Sharp pain, impossible pain, pierced the maw's body... and everything went black.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The worms had to invade the souls and minds of their targets to gain access and begin their assaults in earnest.
Adam however? He just had to ask.
He trusted himself, after all.
Adam 311 just felt relief as he mentally fell back, a stronger and less stressed Adam 312 taking over the fight while passing him data.
...Wow.
He had taken a TON of soul damage.
Without the samples and the assistance of 'Research', he wouldn't even be able to MEASURE how hurt he was. Or find it odd, if he got beyond lucky when checking.
As he forced his mind to repair lost thoughts, damaged areas of his soul... COULD he touch his own soul before? Not this directly. 'Research' was directly passing the data devoured from the worms to Rockette, and she was testing various techniques to help with Adam's recovery progress.
Still, without the backup of Recursion, fixing this mess would be impossible. In fact, Adam wasn't so much 'Healing' or 'Fixing' his Soul... more like using raw Qi to SHOVE his soul into the right shape, using the Recursion souls as templates.
His mind was easy, manipulating memories? Something THAT basic he did all the time.
Otherwise he would have to read stuff several times, or would forget useful details... no, it was the Soul aspect that was causing issues and delaying his recovery.
He blinked as a wave of new data flooded his senses.
And focused on Adam 312.
...Who was humming happily, worm tails hanging from his grinding jaws. Sharp needle teeth were tearing thin slits into the screaming poison beasts, even as his clawed hands reached for more snacks.
Glancing at the recovery rate of his Soul... it would still take a while.
...And Adam 312 looked busy.
With a growing smile, Adam 311 looked upward, his teeth sharpening into needles as his jaws began to unhinge.
After all, he also felt a bit peckish.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam 310 blinked as he mentally fell back, a stronger and (For some reason) hungry Adam 311 taking over the fight against the endless worms while passing him data.
A list of strange conceptual Soul barbs and hooks filled his thoughts. How to curl various ideas like lures for future assaults, using similar energies to open attack paths. Some basic methods to recover Soul damage, and... wait.
Soul damage? That sounded important.
He had several comparison samples, showing an undamaged template followed by more examples of how damage was spread by these strange poisons. With more data, he was able to see faster methods of recover, and he passed the data and his thoughts to Rockette to add to her 'Research' session.
He started the recovery process, and kept examining the information.
With the data from Adam 311, who was still consuming worms on his lower level, Adam 310 had more freedom to examine the consumed thoughts and tricks as the Adams learned how to more efficiently consume the invaders. Less data loss through acquisition', more concepts stolen from the attacker...
And it tasted amazing...
With a growing smile, Adam 310 looked upward, his teeth sharpening into needles as his jaws began to unhinge.
It was probably a good idea to get more delicious data samples, right?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan and Little Tianshi were watching Adam with concern.
He had stopped talking three days ago.
His tattoos had begun to rot into his flesh, while black fluid flowed in the open wounds.
His right eye was blank, his left eye was less than a pin prick of light.
But he continued to flee from the Corpse Bog.
The little one tugged her sleeve. "Did Da change? Is he getting better?"
She shook her head. "Rockette says that it will be fine, just be patient."
But Sister Quan knew more than that.
This was the defensive method that allowed the Corpse Bog to seem so 'safe', so 'boring'.
And Adam, as the only one exposed to that environment for this whole journey, was now facing some sort of attack alone.
It was getting worse as they tried to flee the Bog. Absolute black liquid was oozing up from the passing waters, twisting into ribbons as they dug into the open wounds of Adam's cursed tattoos.
But what could they do? Even as they approached the outer rim of the swamp, it was still far too deadly to exit the protections of Rockette's crystal caverns.
So they watched Adam slowly degrade. He fell from speaking odd phrases, to eventually responding with quiet mumbling... to this silent dash into the distance.
She wasn't sure what was worse... watching her friend in such pain and danger, or having to stay positive and happy around his disciple. Only Rockette's assurance had kept the little one from breaking down into tears.
Her attention was grabbed by a guard. "HE STOPPED!"
Everyone turned to the observation dome!
...Adam was floating above the moss, a massive spiral of momentum energy swirling in reserves behind him. It gave an odd glow to the scene.
His tattoos were now wide weeping wounds of black ooze, some so wide that they combined with the nearby marks and left wide openings directly down to his bleached white bones... bones which should NOT be that white.
...There was no blood.
No... No, it was more that the blood itself now looked like Bog water, thickened into a near gel like state.
Adam was floating without care to his body, his blue hair floating in unseen wind, his gaze blank... but his left eye had a growing blue flame pulsing. Swelling.
The lead guard cursed. "Shit. SHIT. Look at his hands!"
Everyone shifted their gazes. The hands were mostly exposed bones due to the tattoo wounds...
But the white finger bone tips were extending. Sharpening.
...Clearly they were becoming claws.
One of the more calm guards sighed. "His teeth are changing too."
Sister Quan felt her heart jump and her chest hurt as she saw a close friend begin to grin... with a jaw full of horrifying needle teeth.
Another guard gulped. "This... this might be bad."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
A curtain lifted.
The clouds parted.
Adam Prime felt his jaw flex as Adam 2 began to smile, even as he fell back mentally and began examining the new data.
So. Much. Data.
Unlike Yin poison, which needed actual material to infect others... Yang poison was soul and mentally focused. The ideas alone were enough to attack others.
Thousands, no... billions of worms were consumed. Each one a different variance of Yang poison, all guided by a swarm like intelligence. A fragment of a fragment that had clearly infected his body way back when he FIRST entered the Corpse Bog.
Maybe the reason why the Bone Walker ignored him... was because it knew he was already compromised. Easily harvested at any time.
Well... If so? That may have been a poor decision on the creatures part.
Adam 2 cackled with madness as he used his bone claws to tear into Adam Prime's chest, exposing his heart and the dead flesh surrounding it.
On the positive side, this process had given 'Research' lots of material. It would take more time of course, but Adam now had a through, practical guide to real world Soul battles.
Also he picked up lots of interesting tricks and techniques, as well as a good example to why keeping backups and doing memory comparisons were important.
Adam 2's jaws unhinged as his left hand pierced Adam Prime's heart... and tore a black worm from the exposed cavity.
Yeah, gross.
As Adam 2 gleefully consumed the immaterial parasite, Adam began reviewing his body state.
Lots of soul wounds opened. Backdoors created. Dangerous packets, which would have deadly consequences if not dismantled, scattered through random thoughts, memories, and even a few along cultivation routes and near meridian nodes.
That had to go.
Oh, and there were sabotage instructions modified into the adaptation processes, defensive measures were either erased or disabled, energy was deliberately wasted or even used to attack untouched flesh...
A pulse had Adam 2 return to within, another fully activated his Cultivation Cells.
"Consume."
His body shrank in half, the dead flesh and corrupted body fragments devoured by healthy Cultivation Cells as they rapidly shifted positions... then the reserves were accessed.
Trillions of cells in Storage Mode would finally be useful!
A jerk made his body pulse in mid air as limbs stretched, muscles repaired, flesh 'regrew', bone cracks sealed...
He blinked. "Wight, gwatta fwix my mwouth."
And get rid of these claws, the sharp bone tips made his 'healed' fingers look all strange and disturbing.
Rockette formed on his shoulder with a happy 'DING'! "Adam?"
He blinked, even as his body began to compress. Too many Storage Mode Cells had tripled his muscle mass and he didn't want to change his wardrobe. "Yeth?"
Rockette was wobbling back and forth in joy even as the transmitted voices seemed... concerned. "Are... Are you alright?"
He nodded. "I methed up my teeth." Trying to point, he ended up staring at his hands. "Altho, I methed up my handth."
Adam gave a pointed thumbs up. "I can fixth it!"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan sighed. "Yeah, he's fine. I on the other hand... I want to get drunk and then sleep it off." She walked away, pulling little Tianshi away toward her own room as well. "But since we ran out of the hard stuff months ago, and it is already FAR too late..."
She ignored the little girl's pouting. "I am going to read the little one a story and then have us both go to sleep. No one wake us up, have breakfast ready, and tell Adam we are glad he is alright."
Rockette happily gave a 'Ding' as the two left for their rooms.
The lead guard fell into a chair. "The Burning Sage just tore his own heart open to consume the monster attacking him." She glared at the other, stunned guards. "We need to increase our training."
Silent nods agreed.
Adam flexed his body, feeling his body shift back into a more healthy state. Liquids in general tend to resist movement at higher velocities... if Adam had been traveling at free fall velocities, he may have only dove so deep.
But at the speed he had achieved? His skeletal system was powdered. Every muscle torn, most organs pulverized... Yeah, it was bad.
Didn't stop there, either. The impact ended up crushing his internal Adams over twelve levels deep.
Even a number of his Cultivation Cells exploded due to the impact. Which was the major reason for the delay in healing... any undamaged cells just shifted back into place fairly quickly. And he didn't want to pull the reserve storage mode Cultivation Cells out for something so minor.
Trying to look around... yeah, that was pointless. This water was naturally dark due to the floating junk in it combined with the odd chemicals, and the massive layer of gray moss acting like a shade umbrella didn't exactly brighten up the area either.
Still... there WERE big things down here.
Adam pulsed his spiritual energy as subtly as Rockette could handle. It would reduce his reach significantly, but by using a thin disk of his domain as a carrier wave he SHOULD get something close to a scan of the black water...
Oh.
...Oh shit.
Right, the fuck away: Let's get to it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam surfaced as he tore through the moss... and Rockette formed on his shoulder, little Tianshi's giggles matching with Sister Quan's laughter. Sounded like a few guards were sniggering in the background too.
Move, move, move.
The rock vibrated. "Da, you made an AMAZING splash! I couldn't SEE how high the water went!"
Move, move, move.
The laughter quieted down... and the mood became a little odd. "Young Sage? You... you are not moving in the correct direction."
Adam nodded. "Change in plans. We are running this way until we leave the Corpse Bog entirely. Maybe a bit further."
...Yeah, that killed the mood. Sister Quan sighed. "What happened? Did you find something underwater?"
A guard jumped in. "It wasn't that tentacled thing again, was it?"
He shook his head. "Worse."
Move, move, move.
The guards seemed hesitant to ask... but Tianshi was young enough to not read the mood. "What did you see Da?"
Adam focused on increasing his speed, Momentum Redirection pushing his limits higher. "Couldn't directly see anything, was too dark down there. But I had Rockette do a subtle scan, just to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me."
Enough speed was built up that he could waste a little of it to float above the moss itself and split the wind resistance blocking his progression. "There were a lot of Spirit Beasts, sure. But even when using the most subtle observation method I know, I was still able to reach back to the 'White Tower' I just jumped from."
The lead guard was serious. "Did it move!?"
Adam sighed, speed still increasing. "Worse. At least bad in my opinion because of what it suggests."
He forced more and more energy into the area, sacrificing internal Qi to push even further ahead. "Did anyone ask themselves... what the 'Bone Walker' was standing on? I mean under the white tower legs."
One of the guards seemed hesitant. "I... I didn't think about it. Was it a... rock or something?" Another one sighed. "Was it a bone mountain?"
Adam felt his face fall into a frown. "Under the water, under the white tower... was a black tower."
He did not look back as he ran. "I think the 'Bone Walker' has two halves. The Yin half, which we climbed and was similar to the Yin pond we found... and the portion under the Corpse Bog."
No wonder the water was black. "The Yang half."
Tianshi seemed distracted. "If they are like... opposites of each other... Would the Yang half be all arms and covered in mouthes?"
Adam ran faster.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The lead guard turned to her people. "Get back to work."
Seriously, there was nothing they could do but get stronger and wait for Adam to escape this god damned swamp of death and eldritch monstrosities.
...Maybe once they escape the bog, she would stop having moments of soul wrenching terror with images of black hands reaching out of the murk to drag them down.
Down into the depths to be consumed by an antispider covered in moving mouths.
With a shiver she got busy managing the rest of her team. Anything to avoid focusing on how powerless this situation made her feel, despite her years of cultivation advancement and decades of technique practice.
Why did it matter if she could hurl fire? Would heat even be NOTICED by the whatever it was down there!?
...Maybe she should go to her cultivation cave and just... meditate for a while. Settle her emotions.
Glancing at the screen, where the most powerful boy she had ever met was fleeing as fast as he could with some underlayer of fear hidden on a serious face...
Yes. Some meditation and self reflection would help. Her being emotionally compromised wouldn't help anyone.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Is it following? Shit. No, right?
Should he check?
But what if it WAS following him?
Adam glanced at his hand... and it was shaking.
...Whatever was down there, it CLEARLY was affecting his mind. Might have been doing so for a long time too... it just got super noticeable as he tried to LEAVE the Bog.
Which was fine, he had wanted out of this damn swamp BEFORE being forced to feel raw fear. It must be some kind of conceptual terrorizing ability though, because two Adam's had their hearts destabilized before he even detected the danger.
Tianshi would have likely suffered brain damage if she had been under that strain.
Like... shit. The poison and spores and stuff were NOTHING compared to that raw terror being emitted from under the water. No, it was VERY good that he had decided to walk on top of that whole mess, probably slowed down this whole process of fear insertion.
But yeah, fuck this place.
At this point, Adam was traveling so fast it was damaging the moss and what few bushes and stray trees were being passed. A slow moving 'V' wave was spreading behind the control of his Domain, anything disturbed unable to react before he was long gone.
Rockette was doing her best to keep the disturbance low... but his current speed forced him to fly head first, the wind far too strong for him to change orientation without slowing things down significantly.
Even abusing his domain... well, he would leave traces. Which might not even be a bad thing... if something was following him, he didn't want to LOSE the monster and have it accidentally choose the RIGHT direction, leading it towards the Burning Sword Sect.
Despite the stress, and the growing fear that the LACK of problems was the first sign that he was wandering straight into an ambush... time passed with only his fears catching up to him.
Mostly.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Run.
He had stopped listening to Rockette, he needed to run.
Flee.
No time to drink.
Faster.
Can't waste time eating.
Further.
Sleep for the weak.
Only his domain was guiding his path.
His eyes were closed.
Only his customized technique allowed his body to move.
Limbs were heavy.
His muscles were sore.
Light was dim.
Must move faster.
Unnoticed to the boy, his curse marks were pitch black, pulsing, and straining against his tattoo restrictions, trying to corrode something not physical.
Because the Yin poisons collected so far attempted to corrupt his body... while the new Yang poison from Beneath was trying to decay his mind and sense of self.
Worse... A malevolent guiding force was ensuring that every individual assault was more effective, perfectly timed...
An energy equally as dangerous as the Yin types gathered, but a type his body hadn't had a chance to adapt to at all. An attack from an unknown foe.
His soul and mind were fighting... with little if any progress. Each attempt to break free, to adapt, was causing his mind to lose focus and slowly blank away. Losing ground. Falling...
As the Yang energies infiltrated his curse tattoos... they began to spread internally, to the recurring copies of himself within... assuming it to be a deeper, untouched weakness to grow within. How unfortunate.
For the new poison.
And the one trying to guide it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked.
Everything was clear... but something very weak was trying to dig into his thoughts.
What... what happened?
A movement of spiritual energy... and he realized several things.
First, he was not Adam Prime.
He was one of the recursion Adams, buried deep with the conceptual layers.
Specifically, he was Adam 312, with over three hundred Adams above him in the layer chain.
...Those Adams were struggling.
He absently reached out and gripped the 'worm'. A mouth with a tail, dark black body... even the fangs were pitch dark, the maw exposed a cavity of hunger.
This was the infiltrating Yang poison. One being directed by this strange conceptual force... pure Yang energy didn't have this type of motivation behind it.
Was it even truly focused at Adam directly?
No... it was more a general rage and desire to destroy.
Still, choices had been made... thus there must be consequences.
Adam looked at the squirming worm of poison.
At this level? This far inside Rockette's concept of recursion?
Things were a bit... flexible.
His face split open, jaws unhinged, teeth sharpening into needle fangs...
After all, he had recently made techniques to 'Consume' land, concepts, forests...
The worm screamed, and tried to flee. So near, so close, an army of worms could save it. An ocean of poison would allow it to escape. The remainder of its power could have strengthened it.
Then Adam's jaws clenched on the strange flesh... and it died.
Adam idly chewed as he examined the small fragment being chewed and absorbed.
There were... hooks.
Twisted barbs, that were not physical... more mental triggers. When they found a thought or concept that they were close to matching, they would latch onto the creature (Or Adam in this case) and slowly tear holes into the minds and souls of the target.
Each attack was focused on FIRST destroying the ability to detect the attacks. After being crippled and unable to sense the danger, it would try and corrode willpower and sense of self... to just generally remove the ability for the target to defend itself.
And it worked. On many Adams.
But not on all of them.
Nor on the many, MANY more layers below.
A thought had the Adam below share an undamaged sample of Soul and Mind. Another had Adam compare it with his OWN damaged mind... and rapidly repair the damage while 'Research' examined the Soul differences.
Several weak areas used to enter the mind... then set aside, while the Yang poison was directed to open new, more obvious holes for attack from within. It was another layer of defence, so that if someone attempted to resist being destroyed they would defend the wrong areas of the mind and self.
This tainted Yang Beast clearly had goals.
The lost memories? Everything to do with the Yin Bone walker. Everything to do with the larger beasts in the Corpse Bog. Basically, anything interesting was being harvested from his mind and soul.
...Certainly explained the lack of Sect reports about this place.
At the same time, this worm was trying to dig out his own memories, to tear his thoughts and learn about the world around it... or simply what targets needed to be assaulted if he managed to escape.
Thankfully, his mind was... not normal. And his Soul was intricately bound to Rockette... who was still fighting off each attempt by the invader.
The data gathered was... insufficient. Only the bare fingertip of a foothold, against a master of mental attacks and soul damage. His other selves were being further and further damaged, even as examined the remains of this one worm.
He glanced upward.
All that said... even with only the most tiny of advantages...
Well, Adam had done more with less before.
His unnatural mouth opened wider into a grin... a blue tongue of flame absently escaping his maw and licking his needle teeth.
So some self important fragment of a Spirit Beast, riding a wave of tainted Yang energy, was so self assured that it could consume Adam? Seemed a bit backward.
After all, he was a tad peckish.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The Yang worms were slowly digging deeper. The overall assault had slowed considerably after discovering this hidden defensive area. Clearly, this odd place with so many targets was some sort of artificial method to block away the true center, the most valuable data!
The fragment of spirit controlling the worms was far too distracted now to fully watch all the different combat fronts... but it didn't matter. Every single target was easily compromised, then slowly being corrupted... eventually this Cultivator would start opening his own defenses, attacking the same mental structures required to prevent future assaults...
Like all previous prey, he would fail, expose all secrets, and beg to be devoured.
It would be glorious! So delicious! So fulfilling!
Thousands of tiny mouths tried to focus on these odd patterns hidden away. They would all be infected, they would all offer their treasures to the nest.
The thoughts of the worm cut off as a claw like hand suddenly clutched its rubbery flesh!
NO!
NO THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
It didn't HAVE flesh! It was pure energy!
Struggling was... no, it was failing! It couldn't move!
Sharp pain, impossible pain, pierced the maw's body... and everything went black.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The worms had to invade the souls and minds of their targets to gain access and begin their assaults in earnest.
Adam however? He just had to ask.
He trusted himself, after all.
Adam 311 just felt relief as he mentally fell back, a stronger and less stressed Adam 312 taking over the fight while passing him data.
...Wow.
He had taken a TON of soul damage.
Without the samples and the assistance of 'Research', he wouldn't even be able to MEASURE how hurt he was. Or find it odd, if he got beyond lucky when checking.
As he forced his mind to repair lost thoughts, damaged areas of his soul... COULD he touch his own soul before? Not this directly. 'Research' was directly passing the data devoured from the worms to Rockette, and she was testing various techniques to help with Adam's recovery progress.
Still, without the backup of Recursion, fixing this mess would be impossible. In fact, Adam wasn't so much 'Healing' or 'Fixing' his Soul... more like using raw Qi to SHOVE his soul into the right shape, using the Recursion souls as templates.
His mind was easy, manipulating memories? Something THAT basic he did all the time.
Otherwise he would have to read stuff several times, or would forget useful details... no, it was the Soul aspect that was causing issues and delaying his recovery.
He blinked as a wave of new data flooded his senses.
And focused on Adam 312.
...Who was humming happily, worm tails hanging from his grinding jaws. Sharp needle teeth were tearing thin slits into the screaming poison beasts, even as his clawed hands reached for more snacks.
Glancing at the recovery rate of his Soul... it would still take a while.
...And Adam 312 looked busy.
With a growing smile, Adam 311 looked upward, his teeth sharpening into needles as his jaws began to unhinge.
After all, he also felt a bit peckish.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam 310 blinked as he mentally fell back, a stronger and (For some reason) hungry Adam 311 taking over the fight against the endless worms while passing him data.
A list of strange conceptual Soul barbs and hooks filled his thoughts. How to curl various ideas like lures for future assaults, using similar energies to open attack paths. Some basic methods to recover Soul damage, and... wait.
Soul damage? That sounded important.
He had several comparison samples, showing an undamaged template followed by more examples of how damage was spread by these strange poisons. With more data, he was able to see faster methods of recover, and he passed the data and his thoughts to Rockette to add to her 'Research' session.
He started the recovery process, and kept examining the information.
With the data from Adam 311, who was still consuming worms on his lower level, Adam 310 had more freedom to examine the consumed thoughts and tricks as the Adams learned how to more efficiently consume the invaders. Less data loss through acquisition', more concepts stolen from the attacker...
And it tasted amazing...
With a growing smile, Adam 310 looked upward, his teeth sharpening into needles as his jaws began to unhinge.
It was probably a good idea to get more delicious data samples, right?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan and Little Tianshi were watching Adam with concern.
He had stopped talking three days ago.
His tattoos had begun to rot into his flesh, while black fluid flowed in the open wounds.
His right eye was blank, his left eye was less than a pin prick of light.
But he continued to flee from the Corpse Bog.
The little one tugged her sleeve. "Did Da change? Is he getting better?"
She shook her head. "Rockette says that it will be fine, just be patient."
But Sister Quan knew more than that.
This was the defensive method that allowed the Corpse Bog to seem so 'safe', so 'boring'.
And Adam, as the only one exposed to that environment for this whole journey, was now facing some sort of attack alone.
It was getting worse as they tried to flee the Bog. Absolute black liquid was oozing up from the passing waters, twisting into ribbons as they dug into the open wounds of Adam's cursed tattoos.
But what could they do? Even as they approached the outer rim of the swamp, it was still far too deadly to exit the protections of Rockette's crystal caverns.
So they watched Adam slowly degrade. He fell from speaking odd phrases, to eventually responding with quiet mumbling... to this silent dash into the distance.
She wasn't sure what was worse... watching her friend in such pain and danger, or having to stay positive and happy around his disciple. Only Rockette's assurance had kept the little one from breaking down into tears.
Her attention was grabbed by a guard. "HE STOPPED!"
Everyone turned to the observation dome!
...Adam was floating above the moss, a massive spiral of momentum energy swirling in reserves behind him. It gave an odd glow to the scene.
His tattoos were now wide weeping wounds of black ooze, some so wide that they combined with the nearby marks and left wide openings directly down to his bleached white bones... bones which should NOT be that white.
...There was no blood.
No... No, it was more that the blood itself now looked like Bog water, thickened into a near gel like state.
Adam was floating without care to his body, his blue hair floating in unseen wind, his gaze blank... but his left eye had a growing blue flame pulsing. Swelling.
The lead guard cursed. "Shit. SHIT. Look at his hands!"
Everyone shifted their gazes. The hands were mostly exposed bones due to the tattoo wounds...
But the white finger bone tips were extending. Sharpening.
...Clearly they were becoming claws.
One of the more calm guards sighed. "His teeth are changing too."
Sister Quan felt her heart jump and her chest hurt as she saw a close friend begin to grin... with a jaw full of horrifying needle teeth.
Another guard gulped. "This... this might be bad."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
A curtain lifted.
The clouds parted.
Adam Prime felt his jaw flex as Adam 2 began to smile, even as he fell back mentally and began examining the new data.
So. Much. Data.
Unlike Yin poison, which needed actual material to infect others... Yang poison was soul and mentally focused. The ideas alone were enough to attack others.
Thousands, no... billions of worms were consumed. Each one a different variance of Yang poison, all guided by a swarm like intelligence. A fragment of a fragment that had clearly infected his body way back when he FIRST entered the Corpse Bog.
Maybe the reason why the Bone Walker ignored him... was because it knew he was already compromised. Easily harvested at any time.
Well... If so? That may have been a poor decision on the creatures part.
Adam 2 cackled with madness as he used his bone claws to tear into Adam Prime's chest, exposing his heart and the dead flesh surrounding it.
On the positive side, this process had given 'Research' lots of material. It would take more time of course, but Adam now had a through, practical guide to real world Soul battles.
Also he picked up lots of interesting tricks and techniques, as well as a good example to why keeping backups and doing memory comparisons were important.
Adam 2's jaws unhinged as his left hand pierced Adam Prime's heart... and tore a black worm from the exposed cavity.
Yeah, gross.
As Adam 2 gleefully consumed the immaterial parasite, Adam began reviewing his body state.
Lots of soul wounds opened. Backdoors created. Dangerous packets, which would have deadly consequences if not dismantled, scattered through random thoughts, memories, and even a few along cultivation routes and near meridian nodes.
That had to go.
Oh, and there were sabotage instructions modified into the adaptation processes, defensive measures were either erased or disabled, energy was deliberately wasted or even used to attack untouched flesh...
A pulse had Adam 2 return to within, another fully activated his Cultivation Cells.
"Consume."
His body shrank in half, the dead flesh and corrupted body fragments devoured by healthy Cultivation Cells as they rapidly shifted positions... then the reserves were accessed.
Trillions of cells in Storage Mode would finally be useful!
A jerk made his body pulse in mid air as limbs stretched, muscles repaired, flesh 'regrew', bone cracks sealed...
He blinked. "Wight, gwatta fwix my mwouth."
And get rid of these claws, the sharp bone tips made his 'healed' fingers look all strange and disturbing.
Rockette formed on his shoulder with a happy 'DING'! "Adam?"
He blinked, even as his body began to compress. Too many Storage Mode Cells had tripled his muscle mass and he didn't want to change his wardrobe. "Yeth?"
Rockette was wobbling back and forth in joy even as the transmitted voices seemed... concerned. "Are... Are you alright?"
He nodded. "I methed up my teeth." Trying to point, he ended up staring at his hands. "Altho, I methed up my handth."
Adam gave a pointed thumbs up. "I can fixth it!"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan sighed. "Yeah, he's fine. I on the other hand... I want to get drunk and then sleep it off." She walked away, pulling little Tianshi away toward her own room as well. "But since we ran out of the hard stuff months ago, and it is already FAR too late..."
She ignored the little girl's pouting. "I am going to read the little one a story and then have us both go to sleep. No one wake us up, have breakfast ready, and tell Adam we are glad he is alright."
Rockette happily gave a 'Ding' as the two left for their rooms.
The lead guard fell into a chair. "The Burning Sage just tore his own heart open to consume the monster attacking him." She glared at the other, stunned guards. "We need to increase our training."
Silent nods agreed.
Is it just me, or was this the most terrifiying chapter of all?
Like Holy S**t.
WOW.
This
I cant even
Wow.
Adam.
Adam my boi.
You good?
Are you stressed?
Adam, don't do that.
Like Holy S**t.
WOW.
This
I cant even
Wow.
Adam.
Adam my boi.
You good?
Are you stressed?
Adam, don't do that.
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The White Spider of Legs and Eyes was terrifying enough. Now we have the White Yin Spider of Legs and Eyes, the Black Yang Spider of Arms and Mouths, and the Yang Poison they spread throughout the swamp. It is fucking terrifying.
I am not sure if people caught it, but it wasn't just "invade soul, corrupt memories, eat in peace". It did all that, then it laid logic traps and back doors and cultivation bottlenecks and ACTUAL CULTIVATION SABOTAGE while Mind-Raping all of the victim's knowledge away. How much do you want to bet, that everyone that surveyed that swamp never progressed much more in their cultivation? How many of the stronger ones with lots of potential suddenly couldn't progress, reaching a wall and never reaching the next order? AND HOW LONG HAS THE SPIDER BEEN THERE, eating the knowledge of cultivators, and the bodies of spirit beasts? Is that swamp water even actually water, or is it the Yang Poison?
- Location
- Saipan
He was stressed, then he found out how to slowly get better when Adam 312 was activated, then it escalated, until we found out that apparently the Burning Sage now has a nightmare form to deal with soul attacks. And that another he can also attack himself to heal himself while being in the same space. And that it's (probably) visible to everyone who watches. My head hurts.
- Location
- Fiction
And stuff like this is why Adam didn't come here himself, shit be dangerous yo.
Also apparently Recursion also functions like Schroedinger, that is... well, even more ludicrously powerful than I think anyone initially suspected. Especially if he can leverage it into multiprocessing.
Also apparently Recursion also functions like Schroedinger, that is... well, even more ludicrously powerful than I think anyone initially suspected. Especially if he can leverage it into multiprocessing.
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It is based off a specific world, which was linked to a while back. However, it takes place in a different place and time from that story. It was described as "one of the multi-million year stretches between Wuxia MCs".
Well, all I can think is "oh god, Adam found it delicious".
Who wants to bet he turns right around to go eat some more?
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
He won't. Adam knows he doesn't stand a chance against it. He managed to eat a fragment of a fragment of one of its attacks, and still nearly failed.
Well damn. THAT is one way to deal with an eldritch abomination that also serves the purpose of ramping up his hard core badass credentials to the guards. Because what else can you call tearing out your own heart to devour the monster attacking you? Which, was freaking epic, awesome and horrifying.
Do you know what's great about this chapter? Adam gets slapped by the insane terror factor that he isn't the big boy end all be all whatever. There is a reason Adam Prime sent out the tiniest fragment that he could to this realm. It wasn't because of the spirit beast he was injured at the beginning either. He has finally run across something that scares the crap out of him and is totally out of his league.
Adam only survived and recovered from the damage due to his insane cheat factors.
I can't wait for him to calm down and actually think about things. He survived the first attack of this sort. The Bog was supposed to have been somewhat safe. They now know that was utterly wrong that was.
Wait for him to think through it. What if he had anyone else out there with him? The guard would be infected and need treatment. It wouldn't be a mere physical would that he had has tons of chances to fix either. It could have been even worse. Sister Quan or Little Tianshi could have been along with him and been attacked/infected.
He now has to come up with some way to teach them not just how to survive these sorts of attacks, but develop self-repair systems and how to adapt and heal themselves.
I feel this was a wonderful end to this little arc. Adam finally gets to feel all the pent up terror that the guards have been going through and actually gets to go through the madly fleely phase as well as fighting off a massive successful mental/soul attack.
Do you think that he'd learn some caution after this? Nah, it's Adam.
Adam only survived and recovered from the damage due to his insane cheat factors.
I can't wait for him to calm down and actually think about things. He survived the first attack of this sort. The Bog was supposed to have been somewhat safe. They now know that was utterly wrong that was.
Wait for him to think through it. What if he had anyone else out there with him? The guard would be infected and need treatment. It wouldn't be a mere physical would that he had has tons of chances to fix either. It could have been even worse. Sister Quan or Little Tianshi could have been along with him and been attacked/infected.
He now has to come up with some way to teach them not just how to survive these sorts of attacks, but develop self-repair systems and how to adapt and heal themselves.
I feel this was a wonderful end to this little arc. Adam finally gets to feel all the pent up terror that the guards have been going through and actually gets to go through the madly fleely phase as well as fighting off a massive successful mental/soul attack.
Do you think that he'd learn some caution after this? Nah, it's Adam.
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- Location
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ya know ever since I saw the the gibbering mouther I always wondered what a shoggoth infected with a mind flayer tadpole would look like. Now I know. *screaming internally*
Fragnostic
Cheshire
- Location
- Neko City
Okay, this absolutely confirms it.
Just like the first saga of Adam was themed after lust, this part is themed after gluttony.
Vore confirmed.
Just like the first saga of Adam was themed after lust, this part is themed after gluttony.
Vore confirmed.
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- Location
- So near, yet so far
Did anyone notice how the eldritch beings in this story pretty much act like entities? All focus on DATA and CONSUMPTION. All send small parts of themselves with small to big variances to CONSUME more DATA.
Especially Adam himself with his love of learning DATA. Who goes to new realms to CONSUME more glorious DATA. Who sent a piece of himself to CONSUME more glorious DATA in a hard to reach place. A piece that turned himself to more pieces (layers) with small to big variances to CONSUME more DATA.
Especially Adam himself with his love of learning DATA. Who goes to new realms to CONSUME more glorious DATA. Who sent a piece of himself to CONSUME more glorious DATA in a hard to reach place. A piece that turned himself to more pieces (layers) with small to big variances to CONSUME more DATA.
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Barbaric Bob
The Barbaric One
- Location
- Soon to be plundering a village near you
Adam didn't adopt the endless mouths and teeth....
PROGRESS!
See, Adam can do normal when he tries.
-but, He turned into endless mouths and teeth conceptually-
...pfft, details!
PROGRESS!
See, Adam can do normal when he tries.
-but, He turned into endless mouths and teeth conceptually-
...pfft, details!
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I remember "White Collar Cultivator" had a visiting Archailect-tier post-singularity Artificial Intelligence be considered a second class citizen at a convention of Cultivator Nobility, which mystified me greatly... 
...Mystery solved I guess!
Time to roll for SAN Loss!!!
...Mystery solved I guess!
Time to roll for SAN Loss!!!
- Status