The Morality System

[Calculating rewards]

'Did you forget that I defeated evil?'

[No. My response was just delayed]

'Isn't that just another way of saying you forgot?'

[Nope. No, it isn't]

'You seem less and less like a system and more and more like a person the more we interact.'

[Would that be a problem?]

'Not necessarily. I don't know. I'll have to get back to you on that.'

[You do that]

[Your rewards have been calculated]

[You have reached Level 2]

[You have gained a new ability: Weapon Formation]

[Weapon Formation: Can form basic weapons out of bones, such as crude hammers, daggers, and spears]

[Bone Spike ability upgraded. You can now form and launch up to 3 spikes at a time]

'Nice. Thanks.'

[I'm not done! You have defeated two minor evils. For that you get to choose two minor abilities]

[Happiness Giver: People will temporarily become 10% happier a minute after they finish interacting with you for the first time. They will have no idea you were the cause of their happiness]

or

[Happiness Beneficiary: You will temporarily become 10% happier every time you interact with a new person]

or

[Happy Meetings: You and the other person will both temporarily become 5% happier every time you interact with a new person]

This one was easy for multiple reasons. I knew which one I could get good karma or whatever for choosing, and I didn't like the idea of my emotions being manipulated every time I met a new person.

'I choose Happiness Giver.'

[Granted. -5 Dark Aura (35)]

[Next reward choice]

[Multiplied Generosity: When you gift someone money for the first time, they receive 3 times the amount you gifted them]

or

[Greedy Recipient: When someone gifts you money for the first time, you receive 3 times the amount]

or

[Improved Commerce: Goods and services are 5% cheaper]

Since I'm literally doing so I can gift Lloyd's family, money, the obvious choice here is the one that will multiply that gift by 3.

'I choose Multiplied Generosity.'

[Granted. -5 Dark Aura (30)]

'Thanks.'

I remembered we hadn't dug the cores out of the spiders. We dug the cores out of the bears first and went back for the spiders. We needed as many stats as we could get if we were going to defeat the boss.

I divided the cores up between the two of us and we popped them. I got 20 strength (160), 10 agility (155), and 100 intelligence (400). My intelligence was shooting up! I had confidence that once we made it to the bottom, I'd be able to blow away whatever the boss was.

There were more crystals to collect around us so we did that before moving on. The crystals were glowing brighter as we got further down in the mine and they started looking clearer too. Less cloudiness in the body of the crystal.

[Amplification crystal: Rare quality]

Interesting. I wondered how it worked. Maybe it worked like the cores. I squeezed it with the intent to absorb it and it popped just like the crystals.

[Magic Amplification: 1.2x]

Nice. Good to know. I would have to save a few for the boss battle. The ones down below probably had better amplification values, because the areas were more dangerous. So I waited until I picked up the ones right before the boss.

I picked up a yellow crystal and the system said:

[Speed Crystal: Uncommon]

The speed crystals must have been more powerful than the amplification crystals. That's why it had lower quality. After that, I found some crystals that had no classification at all.

[Crystal: Rare]

We came to a point where the mine cart track was collapsed over and the only way down was a ladder leading down a dark hole.

"Hey, Abby. By any chance, do your bubbles give off light?" I said.

"I don't know. Let's see," Abby said. She shot several bubbles down the hole into the dark and they lit up the tunnel down some. "Huh. I guess they do."

"Nice," I said. "Let's go down."

We climbed down the ladder to the level below. We came out into a brightly lit natural cave filled with luminescent crystals. They were all different colors.

I went to grab a pretty big one when a huge chunk of the crystals moved and stood up, revealing that it was a crystal golem. Sharp objects like my spikes weren't going to do anything to this guy. They would just glance off his hard angular body.

Then another golem stood up out of the crystals and another. Once they were done introducing themselves as enemies, there were 6 of them. I had to think of something fast.

Nothing sharp would work. If that was the case, then should make something that's not sharp. I could form crude weapons now, so I formed a large basic club and swung it at this dude's leg.

It cracked. Good. That was progress. Now I just needed to hit that spot again. The golem didn't just stand there though. He lifted both fists and went to slam them down on me.

A large bubble went over each fist and they bounced off me. There was still a decent amount of force to them, but it was significantly reduced.

"Thanks, Abby," I said.

"You're welcome," she said.

With his fists dealt with, I swung at the golem's leg again. It shattered and he fell over with a loud thud. He tried getting up, but he couldn't. He was too heavy and awkwardly built.

So I ran up to his head and swung the club down on it. It cracked, so I swung again. It cracked more, so I swung again. It shattered to pieces and the golem's crystals went dim and still.

I had defeated one of them! Now just 5 more to go. I looked back to see Abby barely fending off the crystal golems. She kept knocking them on their asses with her combat bubbles. The bubbles weren't hard enough to cause any damage though.

I rushed up and used the same strategy as before but this time, I wanted to ground all 5 of the remaining golems before going for the kill shot. I shattered their legs to pieces with my club while dodging and running in between their slow moving legs.

Once they were on the ground, I smashed their heads in. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sighed in relief. There were no more enemies in this room. We spent some time collecting the rarest and highest quality looking crystals.

[You have leveled up! You are now level 3]

[Your Bone Armor is now self repairing!]

[Your Bone Sense's range has doubled!]

'Nice.'

We also made sure to get the crystal golems' cores. It was exhausting work smashing through their chests but it would probably be well worth it. The cores we pulled out of them were huge.

When I popped mine, they were all stamina cores. I got 42 stamina (184) all in all. After Abby popped her cores, and we'd collected all the valuable looking crystals, we walked down a long cave tunnel with mine carts and mining tools pushed to the sides of the tunnel.

There was a loud clank as I stepped on something hard. I heard a crunch sound and looked down at the massive bear trap that was clamped around my leg all the way up to the thigh.

"Tom!" Abby said.

"Don't worry! I'm fine! My armor stopped it," I said.

My bone armor had stopped the bear trap from slicing into me. I pried the bear trap open slipped my leg out and let it slam shut again. I looked at my leg and saw the chipped areas on the bone armor heal over.

That was close. Now we just needed to navigate around all the other bear traps laid all over the floor of this cave tunnel going forward as far as I could see.