Chapter 5
The light of the dungeon begins dimming within an hour after I start my journey back to my cave, my pace slow due to both my exhaustion and caution. I've made it maybe halfway back to my known territory when I hear movement, causing me to drop low to the ground in reaction. I crawl into the patch of bushes next to me, trying to get a look at whatever made the noise with [Inspect]. I find the source in only a few uses of [Inspect], revealing to me a group of lizardmen only a few meters away and moving in my general direction.
[Lizardman Scout Leader Level 32]
[HP: 2100]
[SP: 150]
[PATK: 260]
[DEF: 180]
[Lizardman Scout Level 27]
[HP: 1950]
[SP: 210]
[PATK: 120]
[DEF: 170]
[Lizardman Scout Level 29]
[HP: 2800]
[SP: 110]
[PATK: 130]
[DEF: 240]
[Lizardman Scout Level 26]
[HP: 1800]
[SP: 210]
[PATK: 210]
[DEF: 100]
[Lizardman Scout Level 30]
[HP: 2700]
[SP: 100]
[PATK: 270]
[DEF: 120]
I mentally curse from my position hidden in the bushes and keep my breathing as steady as possible as I wait for them to pass, 'Because there is no way I could win that fight, even if my stats weren't suppressed.'
As I watch them, they slowly make their way through the forest, passing by me before their path cuts through the direction I would have to take to get back to my cave. I scowl at their backs as they slowly get far enough away that my vision of them is beginning to be obscured by trees and foliage. They're out of sight soon enough, but even if they aren't quite going directly towards my cave, I think it's too big of a risk to try and go straight there when there is a possibility of coming across them again.
Decision made, I stand up from the bushes and change my path to run parallel to the dungeon wall my cave rests within, beginning my journey anew in the opposite direction that the lizardmen took. By the time I make enough distance that I feel safe enough to start towards the dungeon wall, the light has fully converted over to the dim glow of the dungeon's night.
Although even that barely does anything with the canopy of trees above me blocking most of the light. I continue regardless, but my pace is slowed even more due to my caution going up a notch from both the number of active monsters I can hear roaring throughout the dungeon floor as well as the low visibility of nighttime under the cover of the trees.
Each step I take sounds far too loud in the silence of the forest surrounding me and causes me to slow my pace even more in caution. As even the dim glow begins to fade into near pitch blackness, I begin walking with my hands spread out before me in hopes of catching myself on any trees before I walk face first into them. I try to keep my breathing calm and any noise I make to a minimum, even as I'm internally starting to panic at my lack of sight.
I continue like this for maybe another half an hour, doing my best not to jump out of my skin any time I make a noise by accident. Until I almost scream when I hear the loud thumping of something's footsteps near me. I quickly cover my mouth with my hands, holding my breath as I stand as still as possible, making the creatures loud huffs of breath audible.
Tears prick at my eyes as I quickly spin around to face its general direction, planting my back against a nearby tree but, due to the darkness, I can't see where it is. I vaguely track its movement and general direction as it stomps around at—seemingly—random.
Being unable to hold my breath any longer, I let it go, but keep my hands over my mouth and attempt to breathe as quietly as I can. I spend a couple minutes like this with the monster still moving around, but it doesn't seem to have gotten any further away.
Those couple minutes allow me to calm down just a little, and remember my [Inspect] skill, which I quickly make use of, my eyes constantly darting back and forth as I try to get it's [Status] to come up. It takes longer than I had hoped, nearly two minutes, but I'm rewarded with a bright notification box popping up in front of me, though my surroundings are still nearly pitch-black.
[Bugbear Level 24]
[HP: 1800]
[SP: 100]
[PATK: 120]
[DEF: 250]
I gape silently as I see its DEF stat, 'I... don't think I would even deal any damage to it right now...' and snap my mouth shut when I hear its stomping footsteps come nearer. I stay as still and quiet as I can while the bugbear wanders around the area, and I find myself cursing it out mentally for not moving on yet.
A few minutes pass like that, myself constantly on edge, the bugbear wandering near me with its heavy footsteps and loud breathing, when a roar sounds in the distance. Upon hearing it the bugbear, which I find is almost right next to me judging by how loud it is, lets out a nearly earsplitting roar in response and charges off further into the forest.
I hiss out a loud breath between my teeth as the tension leaves my body and I slide down the trunk of the tree I've been leaning against into a sitting position. 'Shit, shit, shit, it's fine, everything's fine... I am never spending a night out in the open areas of the dungeon again if I can help it. Holy fuck, that was nerve-wracking.'
After spending about a minute like that, letting the adrenaline begin to fade, I push myself back up to my feet and turn back around to continue my trek to the dungeon wall and then my cave. I discard my slow pace in my panicky state, simply wanting to be as far away as possible from where I encountered the bugbear.
My pace begins to slow back to normal as the tension leaves my body, my stride finally reaching its normal speed about twenty minutes later. As I've calmed down enough for my body to relax, I try to get my mind do the same, letting out a small sigh as I try to stop my thoughts from racing through bad situations and even worse ones. I succeed in only a few minutes and finally bring my attention to my surroundings—where it should have been—to keep an eye and ear out for any more monsters.
Looking around doesn't help too much right now with how dark it still is, but I do it regardless in hopes of seeing the trees begin to thin out sooner rather than later. Though I honestly have no clue how long it might be because for all I know, I got turned around when I ran from the area that I had my most recent monster encounter at. Frowning at the thought I spread out my arms in hopes of bumping into a tree I can climb so that I can check whether I am going in the right direction or not.
I quickly discover a tree but find myself struggling to climb, as there are no branches low enough for me to reach, leading to the multitude of small scrapes I earn as I attempt to scale the trunk of the tree. It takes a while, but I'm finally able to shimmy my way up to a branch that I quickly pull myself up onto, and from there I'm able to easily reach the next branch up.
A few branches later and I'm high enough to poke my head out through the leaves, confirming the direction of the dungeon wall from my position just as I receive a notification. Waiting until I'm on solid ground before I check it, I quickly make my way down, stumbling onto one knee when I drop from the lowest branch to the ground. I click my tongue at the stinging sensation as I stand up and brush off any dirt from my knee before glancing up to the notification I received.
[Due to certain actions, you have unlocked the passive skill [Climbing]!]
I hum in approval to myself as I dismiss the screen, knowing that it will come in handy in the future if I ever find myself turned around again. Now that I've confirmed my destination, I turn to face the direction I know the dungeon wall lies and set off once more.
A few hours later, and another few encounters I had to hide from in the darkness, I feel like I'm finally beginning to get close to the dungeon wall. I prove myself right when I find my surroundings brightening slowly as I get further, the trees beginning to thin out and letting the dim light of the dungeon in. I increase my pace in my excitement, jogging towards the dungeon wall, only to grunt in pain when a heavy weight impacts my side. It carries me for a few meters before I'm flung from it, rolling along the ground and almost hitting a tree face first before I scramble to my feet, spamming [Inspect] in the direction I was just hit from.
[Battle Boar Level 26]
[HP: 2050]
[SP: 200]
[PATK: 110]
[DEF: 80]
Just as I finish skimming its [Status] the boar charges at me and I back up, sidestepping around the tree I almost hit to get behind it at the last moment before the boar could hit me once again. Circling around the tree, I'm behind the boar just as it passes by and I jump onto its back, repeating my strategy from my previous boar fight and ramming my knife into its left eye and dragging across into the right one, blinding it completely.
Just like the previous boar fight, this one begins thrashing around blindly, but this time I can keep a better grip thanks to my higher stats, giving me the chance to pull the blade out and stab it back down into the top of its skull holding its spike protrusion with one hand all the while. As soon as the hilt of my blade stops against its skull, the boar's legs give out and it starts moving its head side to side and letting out a low grumbling noise, as if confused.
Taking the chance to deal as much damage as possible, I pull my knife out and bring it back down into its skull with both hands, repeating the action five more times in quick succession. As I pull out the knife again in preparation for another blow, I hear a loud ding! along with a small cluster of notifications popping up directly in front of me, letting me know that it's dead. Letting out a sigh of relief as a small smile graces itself upon my lips, I hop off the boar's corpse and glance around to get my bearings before continuing my path to the wall, skimming over the notifications as I go.
[Due to certain actions, the Dexterity stat has been awarded 8 points.]
[Due to certain actions, the Intelligence stat has been awarded 8 points.]
[1362 XP Gained.]
[You have Levelled Up! All HP and SP restored!]
[You have received [Boar Leather x5], [Boar Meat x15] and [Medium Magic Stone x1] for slaying [Battle Boar Level 26]! Your rewards have been deposited into your [Inventory].]
I reach the wall within five minutes and then turn to walk alongside it, making it to my cave in another hour or two, without any more monster encounters along the way. As soon as I'm inside, I flop face down onto the ground, bunching up my cloak beneath my head to act as a pillow, and pass out almost immediately.
I groan in both annoyance and slight pain as I wake up with my muscles aching more heavily than they have since I first arrived in the dungeon. I stretch out on the floor, letting out a noise of relief as my spine pops, waking me up fully. Standing up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I mentally dismiss the usual notifications for having slept and slowly start up my fire pit once again.
I cook two pieces of boar meat for breakfast as I find myself ravenous after not eating since yesterday morning, and I think it's probably closing in on midday by now, judging by how bright the dungeon is outside of my cave. As I lazily eat my food, I decide that I'm going to take a break today and perhaps craft a couple more items with the [Boar Leather] I received last night.
'Though it's not like I have much of a choice what with my stats being suppressed and all...' I let out a dry chuckle as the thought passes through my mind. I mutter a quiet, "[Status]." to myself, as I idly decide to go over any increases I received since last night.
[Status]
[Name: Sana Ljos Alf] [Level: 8] [XP: 275/2900]
[Race: High Elf]
[Sex: Female]
[Age: 13]
[Falna: Forming]
[Titles]
[Exhibitionist]
[HP: 620] 31.1HP/min - ([HP: 310] 15.55/min)
[MP: 0] 0MP/min
[SP: 75] 15.6SP/min - ([SP: 37.5] 7.75/min)
[PATK: 50] - (25)
[MATK: 50] - (25)
[DEF: 75] - (37.5)
[RES: 50] - (25)
[Stats] - [Time remaining until the debuff, [Stat Suppression – 50%], is removed. [9:02:35]]
[Strength: 50] - (25)
[Vitality: 62] - (31)
[Endurance: 75] - (37.5)
[Dexterity: 53] - (26.5)
[Agility: 46] - (23)
[Intelligence: 50] - (25)
[Magic: 0]
[Luck: -12]
My eyes widen so much that I think they're nearly popping out of my head when I see my updated stats, as even with them being suppressed right now they are almost all just as high, if not higher, than my stats yesterday morning. "That'll make farming monsters for the next couple of weeks easier." I feel my lips quirking up into a wry smile at the observation before I move onto my skills.
[Skills]
Passive: [?#%%*+'?!; UNKNOWN] [Truck-Kun's Blessing; MAX] [Brought a Knife to a Monster Fight; Level 6/100] [Trash Belly; Level 3/10] [Climbing; Level 1/10]
Active: [Inspect; Level 5/10] [Fire Starter; Level 4/100] [Carving; Level 1/100] [Monster Chef; Level 4/25] [Leatherworking; Level 2/100] [Rampage; UNKNOWN]
[Rampage; UNKNOWN] - [User enters a berserk state during which all stats are tripled, however, the user loses all logical thinking and simply attacks everything around them without discrimination. If HP is below 10% user gains the buff [Ignore DEF - 50%], while they are below this threshold. Effect lasts until user calms down through their own merits or 10 minutes. After use, user suffers debuff [Stat Suppression – 50%], and skill goes on cooldown for 72 hours.]
[Climbing; Level 1/10] - [*Tarzan noises*]
'Well, the debuff and cooldown make sense for how overpowered that seems.' I note mildly before I quickly glance at my equipment, finding no changes other than my underwear being in a damaged state. Which reminds me of the straps of my bra that hang down loosely along my torso, which I quickly remedy by cutting them off before I adjust the bra and find that it holds well enough for my needs.
With my [Status] check taken care of I move on to making a pair of slippers by wrapping a piece of leather around each foot and tying it off above my ankles. Once I finish that I move onto using the rest of the leather I in my inventory to craft a simple bedroll. It's more of the same simple crafting but my [Leatherworking] skill seems to have low standards, as just those two items cause it to level up another three times, making it reach level five.
I decide to head to my pond to bathe, and once finishing that I spend the rest of the day relaxing around my cave, carving random items absentmindedly and tossing them into the firepit when I'm finished with them. My mind spends most of that time wandering, jumping from one random thought to another, automatically dismissing any notifications for [Carving] levelling up.
When evening comes around, I make myself dinner and I think about how I should go about my farming, eventually settling on aiming for boars as they give me more food and leather alongside the XP. Not to mention that I will be able to deal with them much more easily than I could before. Ding!
[Quest Unlocked!]
[Quest: On the Hunt II]
[Objectives: Hunt down 50 [Battle Boars].
Rewards: The passive skill [Hunter]. 1000 XP.
Failure: You're weak as hell, and you may or may not be dead/starving.]
'Heh, fifty huh? Well, that should cover a good portion of my farming for the next couple weeks.' I find myself smirking as I lean back against the wall of my cave, settling in to sleep for the night.
AN: It felt like a bit less happened this chapter, but after the fight last chapter I think it was needed lol. And we're going to be doing another time skip!
Mathz
Boar charge
110 Damage, damage from rolling along the ground negligible.
S (195/305)
Left Eye stab (crit) then drag blade through skull to Right Eye (continuous dmg)
153.5 (crit x1.5 = 230.25, Continuous hit x1.4 = 322.35, -80 DEF = 242.35 Damage.)
B (1807.65/2050)
Brain stab (Ignore DEF, double PATK and Crit, due to internal vital organ damage.)
178 (crit x1.5 = 267 Damage. And inflict debuffs [Concussed], [Stunned] and [Confused])
B (1540.65/2050)
Brain stab x 6 (Ignore DEF, double PATK and Crit, due to internal vital organ damage.)
178 (crit x1.5 = 267 Damage. X6 attacks = 1602 Damage.
B (-61.35/2050)
