Lexi floated beside me as we stepped out of Orsik’s study and into a new, unfamiliar corridor. Apparently, the entire library had shifted while we were inside, because we definitely weren’t in the same hallway we’d entered from.
The shelves groaned softly as the corridor rearranged itself ahead of us, opening a narrow path.
Before going farther, I tried inspecting Lexi.
Lexi – Bookling
Lvl – N/A
Orsik’s Familiar
“So… you’re Orsik’s familiar, huh?”
Lexi flipped open to a blank page.
“YES! WILL YOU HELP HIM?”
“That’s the plan,” I said.
“THANK YOU.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“ASK AWAY.”
“Alright. What exactly can you do? Orsik said you’d guide me, but guide how?”
Lexi fluttered excitedly and flipped through several pages before settling on a new spread. A tiny glowing map sketched itself across the open pages, a rough outline of the hallway behind us and the path ahead. Little arrows indicated our direction.
“Wait… you’re a minimap?”
She wrote:
“YES! LIMITED RANGE. UPDATES WITH MOVEMENT.”
“That’s insanely useful. I’ve been here like an hour and already got stuck in a loop twice.”
She drew a small circle and labeled it:
“HUMAN ERROR.”
I squinted. “Okay, rude.”
She flipped to the next page, displaying a neat list.
FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:
MAP MODE
NOTE MODE
DATA LIBRARY
“Data library?” I asked.
Lexi somehow straightened her spine with pride, which was impressive for a book.
“MONSTER INFO. ITEM INFO. FLOOR INFO. LIMITED BUT EXPANDING.”
“You have a monster encyclopedia? Like you can tell me what things do?”
“YES. TRY ME.”
“Okay… Booklings. What are they?”
She flipped pages and produced a clean info page.
MONSTER: BOOKLING
(Variant: Spearman / Tackler / Pyromancer)
? Animated minor construct
? Weak to fire (except Pyromancers)
? Aggressive when disturbed
? Low HP
? Predictable attack patterns
? Threat: Low
I whistled. “Perfect. This is actually amazing.”
Lexi added:
“YOU’RE WELCOME.”
We continued deeper into the shifting maze, Lexi glowing softly at my side. The farther we went, the dimmer the lights grew. The hall narrowed, books trembled on the shelves, and dust drifted upward instead of down.
“I can barely see anything,” I said. “Hang on. Let me try something.”
I summoned a fire bolt and immediately launched it upward like a flaming bottle rocket. It fizzled out fifteen feet above us.
“BE CAREFUL,” Lexi wrote.
“Sorry!”
I tried again, this time focusing on holding the fire above my palm. It still jerked upward.
“Urggg, give me a second. I can do this.”
Third time, I managed it. A small fireball hovered steadily over my hand.
“There. Told you I could do it.”
“GOOD JOB!” she wrote.
It felt sarcastic. I tried not to think too hard about it.
With the fireball lighting our way, we kept moving.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Suddenly, Lexi froze midair, pages stiffening. A shaky line appeared.
“WARNING: DANGER AHEAD.”
I tightened my grip on my bat. “So… what kind of danger?”
Ink jittered as she wrote:
“MONSTERS.”
Fantastic.
Lexi flipped into map mode. The corridor ahead splintered into four twisting paths.
“GOOD LUCK,” she wrote.
Great.
We took the left path. Or maybe it took us, because the moment we stepped forward, the shelves groaned and the hallway behind us sealed shut like a closing mouth.
“Cool. No turning back,” I muttered.
Lexi’s minimap jittered violently. The lines twisted, rewound, and knotted like tangled string.
“That normal?” I asked.
“NO.”
Perfect.
We pressed on. The air grew colder. Dust drifted sideways instead of falling. Whispers hissed from the shelves like someone breathing right behind us.
Then came a low growl. Not fully animal. More like someone gargling ink and gravel.
Lexi snapped shut and floated behind me like a terrified pet.
A shape crawled out of the darkness. Long, thin, dripping black liquid that left sizzling stains on the floor.
A hound.
Or what was left of one.
Its body writhed like liquid sludge, bones of ink twisting into sharp calligraphy shapes beneath the surface. Its jaw split too far open, pages fraying into jagged teeth. Its eyes were empty pits of black.
A system window chimed.
New Monster Detected:
Ink Hound – Lvl 6
The hound snarled, ink drooling between jagged page-teeth.
Lexi scribbled furiously:
“DODGE! PROJECTILE COMING!”
A glob of black ink launched from its mouth like a cannonball.
I swung.
CRACK.
Deflect Missile activated. The ink blob ricocheted into a nearby shelf, sizzling through three layers of books before eating into the stone behind them.
“Oh, come on. Acid ink?” I muttered. “Lack of creativity there, huh, dungeon?”
Lexi wrote:
“WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?”
“No one, I guess.”
The hound fired again.
CRACK.
Ink splattered harmlessly aside.
Another shot.
CRACK.
But every time the ink splashed back onto the hound, its body rippled and absorbed it, like water soaking into tar.
“Great,” I muttered. “Immune to your own spit.”
The hound charged, claws skittering against stone. It lunged. I rolled beneath it and came up swinging, catching a glimpse of Lexi writing midair.
“PHYSICAL ATTACKS INEFFECTIVE! FIND A WEAKNESS!”
Density Breaker activated as my bat connected. It felt like striking solid rock instead of sludge. The hound flew backward and crashed into a shelf that exploded in a rain of paper and dust.
“You were saying?” I shot back at Lexi.
“WATCH OUT!”
I turned too late.
The hound recovered faster than I expected. It was already mid-lunge, and this time I wasn’t quick enough.
Its ink-slick fangs sank into my shoulder.
Pain exploded through me. Not just sharp, but burning. My skin sizzled where the acidic ink touched, heat searing deep into muscle. The smell hit a second later: charred fabric and something sickeningly organic.
I screamed.
HP dropped in my vision.
The hound clung to me, jaws grinding deeper.
“GET IT OFF!” Lexi wrote frantically.
Through the pain, I slammed my palm against its face and forced mana outward, casting Elemental Bolt.
Fire detonated point-blank.
The blast ripped the hound off my shoulder and sent it skidding across the floor. Flames licked across its ink-slick body. Steam hissed where fire met acid.
I staggered, clutching my shoulder. My sleeve was half-melted. Skin blistered beneath it.
Okay. That hurt.
On Lexi’s page, a hand began sketching itself. One finger raised higher than the rest.
“Hey!” I barked. “What’s with the middle finger? I thought we were friends!”
The drawing added tiny motion lines for emphasis.
Unbelievable.
The Ink Hound twitched. Its body reformed as ink slithered back together around a glowing crack in its chest. Acid dripped from its fangs as it pushed itself up, burning shallow holes into the stone.
Lexi snapped shut. “IT IS NOT DEAD.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
The hound let out a warped, gargling snarl and gathered itself to leap.
I didn’t give it the chance.
I sprinted forward, ignoring the screaming pain in my shoulder, and swung. CRACK. A fissure split its body, and beneath the shifting ink a glowing purple core pulsed weakly.
“Got you.”
I swung again. CRACK. The crack widened. Another hit and the core fractured further, light leaking out in jagged beams. The hound writhed, ink splattering across the floor like spilled paint.
It made one last desperate leap, jaws wide.
I stepped into it. Full rotation. Perfect timing. Sweet Spot.
BOOM.
Ink erupted in a black mist. The purple core shattered midair and dissolved into glittering fragments. The body collapsed into a harmless puddle, hissing softly as it evaporated.
A notification appeared.
Ink Hound – Lvl 6 Defeated
Experience Awarded
Congratulations! You are now Level 6
+15 Free Stat Points
I stood there breathing hard, shoulder throbbing, acid still stinging beneath torn fabric.
“Okay,” I muttered through clenched teeth. “That one hurt.”
“LEXI, PLEASE REMIND ME NOT TO GET BITTEN BY THOSE THINGS AGAIN.”
“NOTE ADDED,” she wrote.
I wiped my bat clean on a loose scrap of parchment. Lexi peeked out from behind me, pages trembling slightly.
“You okay?” I asked.
“NO,” she wrote. Then after a beat: “BUT GOOD JOB.”
I snorted. “Thanks, Lexi.”
I stepped over the puddle of dissolved ink and inspected what remained of the hound. A small window appeared.
Loot Acquired:
Toxic Ink ×2 (Uncommon)
Two vials of swirling black ink materialized in my inventory, thick and acidic, shifting like they were alive.
“That makes two different uncommon inks,” I muttered, thinking of the octopus ink from the first floor. “Nice.”
Lexi tapped her page urgently.
“SUGGEST WE KEEP MOVING.”
“Yeah,” I said, tightening my grip on the bat. “Good idea.”
As I finished the sentence, something not too far away from us growled.
