Login! Time to explore the new area.
I exited my Player Room and entered the "abandoned nest" that I'd discovered the day before. The goal is to get whatever I can from here before planning my battle with the creature in the "dark cave".
Before that, gotta confirm the new title I got yesterday.
| Title Name: | Merciless |
| Acquisition condition: | Defeat several lower-ranked creatures by inflicting damage equal to 200% of their original HP value |
| Effects: | Makes it easier for your Karma Value to fall whenever you defeat a creature by inflicting much more damage than necessary. Increase damage to lower-ranked creatures: [Mini] |
| Status enhancements upon equipping: | STR: +5 MAG: +5 |
| Description: | Proof of being a merciless jerk. Your Karma will keep on dropping if you don't change that part of you. |
Mhm. Overkills are bad. I should keep it up. Maybe that'll unlock a new evolution for me? Prof. Azif did mention there could be other requirements than just the Talent skills.
Whatever the case, it's still 17 levels before I can evolve. I got lots of time~.
Closing the menu, I started to explore the purple nest. And I got one question for the developers: What-is-this?
The place looks like the normal Dungeon corridors, meaning something taken out of some demon king's castle, but there's lots of junk here. Junk that would look like it's come from some office in the real world. Broken PCs, document files with dirty papers in them, and even old suits that have holes in them.
Both this, the "storage room" I looted before, and that "horror chamber" with the Emergency Quest, they're pointing toward some deep secret regarding this place. If there was just a readable manual somewhere...
While wishing I had a decent inventory, I looked for some stuff of value that I could take back to my Player Room when I noticed something: footprints. And big ones.
The thick layer of dust easily revealed the tracks of some huge, many-legged creature that had been passing through the corridors of junk. I kept my eyes, or better said, my [Detect Monster] skill up and running to not get caught by this unknown creature.
Wanting more info on whatever's living here, I went further into the labyrinth of junk. After walking for a while without finding anything, monsters or treasures alike, I reached an open area. The junk formed a circle-shaped field that's...bigger than as far as I can see. It may not even be circular-shaped, but...
Yeah, this is that. A typical thing for games.
I didn't get any decent combat practice yesterday due to the trap doing all the job, but..., yeah, better with a strong opponent than a weak one.
Without hesitation, I stepped into the open area. Then, I noticed that my body didn't move as I wanted. It's as if someone's taken control of it. My body walked further into the open area before stopping just before it reached the center of the field. After I stopped, I could hear and see something coming from between the small hills of junk and jumped into the area, no, into the battlefield.
A huge spider with legs of various animals instead of spider legs fell onto the field with a loud noise. Said legs seem to be from various animals, such as cows, horses, and monkeys only elongated to make them more in the shape of a spider's leg. The creature's head has no eyes, its mouth looks more like an alligator's than a spider's, and its body is tar-black with purple, cyber-like lines on it.
The control over my body returned to me as the spider gave a strange roar and I didn't waste time taking a step back before noticing something in the middle of the field. A countdown that started with a 10 had appeared, and a large System Message was shown to me.
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: BOSS BATTLE! Name: [Wandering Arrogance]. | Level: 20/F. | Rank: Solo. |
They're going all-in with the aesthetics here. And as expected, it's a boss battle after all!!
Though, this thing is stronger than me. Ignoring the "boss"-part, isn't this saying it's racial rank F at Lv.20!? I'm only Lv.3!!
But the countdown didn't wait for any freak-outs. It reached 0 and the big spider, the "Wandering Arrogance", lept at me.
In a hurry, I escaped to the side thanks to the boost from [Evasion] and fired a [Mystical Thread] at it in return. It hit the spider in one of its right-side legs. The spider didn't seem to like that, but it doesn't seem to be doing much damage either.
It tried to ram me again, this time with more speed than the first tackle. I wanted to jump out of the way, but it almost grazed me with its many legs.
This may be bad. I got no decent attack method to..., oh?
An idea flashed in my mind as I saw the thread stuck on the spider's leg. Maybe if I...
Having no better plan in store, I shot another thread toward one of the spider's right legs. The big guy stormed at me again..., he can only use body blows and biting for attacks, right?
Feeling a little more positive about the fight, I fired an additional three threads and hit the two front legs of the spider, and his face. I don't know how this guy's sight works, but it's obvious from looking at him that the thread is messing with his concentration. I took a chance and threw myself to the ground and had the spider run past me, or should I say, above me? Glad it's so big that it creates a space underneath it big enough for me to escape to.
I fired another two threads at the spider's back-most legs before rising to my feet. The spider seems to be angry over me "decorating it" with the threads, but it doesn't seem to worry about removing them, nor does it seem to have figured out my goal here. Good.
From my fingers, I produced more strands of thread while drinking one of the MP Potions I'd obtained from the mayor's Quest. Meanwhile, the spider..., tch. It ran outside my field of vision. Being able to see only 5 meters in front of you hurts when you're in an area that's bigger than that. I've tried to keep close enough to prevent this, but good luck doesn't last.
The red signal that was [Detect Monster] told me where the spider was, but not being able to see its figure directly hurts. It would be dangerous if it gets a "running start", so let's annoy it.
I started to throw rocks at the spider so I wouldn't waste MP and waited until..., there! The spider came at me with full force! Too bad, but you're too slow! [Create Trap]!
The strands of threads were plastered on the floor in front of me and produced a weak, but still sticky, glue trap. The spider stepped on the trap and lost its balance from the stickiness, slowing down its charge which forced it to trip.
I dodged the tumbling spider and shot more threads at it. When enough threads were covering it, I activated [Create Trap] again, this time producing a spiderweb..., using the threads attached to the spider as some of the materials.
"Mwa-hahahaha! How're you feeling now, you mismatched spider-freak!" - Garami
I couldn't stop myself from releasing a burst of evil laughter. As planned, the spider's legs are too out of synch. Their power levels are too different from each other. If it tries to force the thread off unskillfully, it'll rip off its weaker legs. The fear of that is preventing it from doing anything at all! So glad this guy's got some AI brains. If it only moved with certain patterns, then this plan would never work.
Seeing as the spider couldn't move, I jumped onto its back and drew my dagger. It's about time I got to use this thing.
*Stab*
*Stab, stab, stab*
The spider let out a pained roar, but it didn't die. Tch, how annoying...
*Stab, stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab...*
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: Boss battle cleared! Acquired 3.0 AP as a reward for having subjugated the boss: [Wandering Arrogance]. First-time clear bonus: The "Arrogant Clobber" item. No damage clear bonus: 3 AP Your level has increased by 5. You have reached Lv.8. You have obtained 2.0 Aether Points. You have obtained the title: [First Boss Kill] Your Karma Value has fallen. |
About time! I thought the blade was gonna break...!? 3..., and then 3..., and then 2 more!? A total of 8 AP!?
YA-HOOOO! Spring has come for me! After..., after all these years...*sigh of unparalleled sadness*.
While digesting the sorry history that's my life, I noticed something that had appeared in the middle of the field. That was close. I could have overseen it with these faulty eyes. Thank you, [Detect Treasure].
Opening the chest, I found a..., "flashy club", to put it lightly. It looks weak, yet decorated with several jewels..., and I'm not good with STR, so this thing's a miss. And the only other thing here..., a medallion? One-half of it, at least. And [Identification]...doesn't work. Tch. Wait, does that mean it has some relationship to that coin or the papers I found? [Identification] didn't work on any of those...
And the last thing in the chest is..., a crystal orb? Hmm, [Identification] works on it.., the treasure!! This orb's the treasure of the grey spiders!! That was damn easy! Did the spider here steal it from them?
In any case, let's keep the medallion and take this orb back to the spiders. As for the club..., I got a good idea~.
---
After hurrying back to my Player Room and returning to the boss' battlefield, I found the chest and the club right where I'd left them. Both are too heavy for me to lift anyway. Not that's any problem~.
I ripped the item that I'd stored inside my Player Room. Yes, this is the "bonus" that the black-market merchant gave me! A free ticket to call that merchant again!
"Hey, Gloooo..., who are you?" - Garami
That's strange. Instead of that bundle of living darkness-looking fellow, I'm met with a suspicious-looking old "gentleman". He's dressed in black, has a silver-colored mustache, and even got a top hat and a monocle. But the expression on his face is outright telling the world that he's a nasty fellow.
"Good day to you too, miss. My name is Ronandart, member of the Blackmarket Union. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Ah, so I got a different guy this time. I'm repeating myself here, but this guy looks too damn suspicious..., well, better him than Glock.
"I wanna buy something from you guys, but first, there's something I wanna sell." - Garami
"Oho~? To have the chance to buy something from a beautiful lady like you, this must be my lucky day. And what do I have the pleasure of purchasing from you?" - Ronandart
"Every item in this place." - Garami
"......pardon?" - Ronandart
"Every item in this area that I'm not wearing, plus anything that one can't obtain information of with a [Identification Lv.1] skill." - Garami
".........w-with "everything", you don't mean..., everything?" - Ronandart
The false-looking gentleman asked me with a frail voice as he looked across the mountains of trash that covered the area. I gave him a silent nod with a friendly smile on my face-
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: Your Karma Value has fallen. |
And you're scheduled to appear AFTER I've done the deal, so just shut up!!
Login! Time to explore the new area.
I exited my Player Room and entered the "abandoned nest" that I'd discovered the day before. The goal is to get whatever I can from here before planning my battle with the creature in the "dark cave".
Before that, gotta confirm the new title I got yesterday.
| Title Name: | Merciless |
| Acquisition condition: | Defeat several lower-ranked creatures by inflicting damage equal to 200% of their original HP value |
| Effects: | Makes it easier for your Karma Value to fall whenever you defeat a creature by inflicting much more damage than necessary. Increase damage to lower-ranked creatures: [Mini] |
| Status enhancements upon equipping: | STR: +5 MAG: +5 |
| Description: | Proof of being a merciless jerk. Your Karma will keep on dropping if you don't change that part of you. |
Mhm. Overkills are bad. I should keep it up. Maybe that'll unlock a new evolution for me? Prof. Azif did mention there could be other requirements than just the Talent skills.
Whatever the case, it's still 17 levels before I can evolve. I got lots of time~.
Closing the menu, I started to explore the purple nest. And I got one question for the developers: What-is-this?
The place looks like the normal Dungeon corridors, meaning something taken out of some demon king's castle, but there's lots of junk here. Junk that would look like it's come from some office in the real world. Broken PCs, document files with dirty papers in them, and even old suits that have holes in them.
Both this, the "storage room" I looted before, and that "horror chamber" with the Emergency Quest, they're pointing toward some deep secret regarding this place. If there was just a readable manual somewhere...
While wishing I had a decent inventory, I looked for some stuff of value that I could take back to my Player Room when I noticed something: footprints. And big ones.
The thick layer of dust easily revealed the tracks of some huge, many-legged creature that had been passing through the corridors of junk. I kept my eyes, or better said, my [Detect Monster] skill up and running to not get caught by this unknown creature.
Wanting more info on whatever's living here, I went further into the labyrinth of junk. After walking for a while without finding anything, monsters or treasures alike, I reached an open area. The junk formed a circle-shaped field that's...bigger than as far as I can see. It may not even be circular-shaped, but...
Yeah, this is that. A typical thing for games.
I didn't get any decent combat practice yesterday due to the trap doing all the job, but..., yeah, better with a strong opponent than a weak one.
Without hesitation, I stepped into the open area. Then, I noticed that my body didn't move as I wanted. It's as if someone's taken control of it. My body walked further into the open area before stopping just before it reached the center of the field. After I stopped, I could hear and see something coming from between the small hills of junk and jumped into the area, no, into the battlefield.
A huge spider with legs of various animals instead of spider legs fell onto the field with a loud noise. Said legs seem to be from various animals, such as cows, horses, and monkeys only elongated to make them more in the shape of a spider's leg. The creature's head has no eyes, its mouth looks more like an alligator's than a spider's, and its body is tar-black with purple, cyber-like lines on it.
The control over my body returned to me as the spider gave a strange roar and I didn't waste time taking a step back before noticing something in the middle of the field. A countdown that started with a 10 had appeared, and a large System Message was shown to me.
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: BOSS BATTLE! Name: [Wandering Arrogance]. | Level: 20/F. | Rank: Solo. |
They're going all-in with the aesthetics here. And as expected, it's a boss battle after all!!
Though, this thing is stronger than me. Ignoring the "boss"-part, isn't this saying it's racial rank F at Lv.20!? I'm only Lv.3!!
But the countdown didn't wait for any freak-outs. It reached 0 and the big spider, the "Wandering Arrogance", lept at me.
In a hurry, I escaped to the side thanks to the boost from [Evasion] and fired a [Mystical Thread] at it in return. It hit the spider in one of its right-side legs. The spider didn't seem to like that, but it doesn't seem to be doing much damage either.
It tried to ram me again, this time with more speed than the first tackle. I wanted to jump out of the way, but it almost grazed me with its many legs.
This may be bad. I got no decent attack method to..., oh?
An idea flashed in my mind as I saw the thread stuck on the spider's leg. Maybe if I...
Having no better plan in store, I shot another thread toward one of the spider's right legs. The big guy stormed at me again..., he can only use body blows and biting for attacks, right?
Feeling a little more positive about the fight, I fired an additional three threads and hit the two front legs of the spider, and his face. I don't know how this guy's sight works, but it's obvious from looking at him that the thread is messing with his concentration. I took a chance and threw myself to the ground and had the spider run past me, or should I say, above me? Glad it's so big that it creates a space underneath it big enough for me to escape to.
I fired another two threads at the spider's back-most legs before rising to my feet. The spider seems to be angry over me "decorating it" with the threads, but it doesn't seem to worry about removing them, nor does it seem to have figured out my goal here. Good.
From my fingers, I produced more strands of thread while drinking one of the MP Potions I'd obtained from the mayor's Quest. Meanwhile, the spider..., tch. It ran outside my field of vision. Being able to see only 5 meters in front of you hurts when you're in an area that's bigger than that. I've tried to keep close enough to prevent this, but good luck doesn't last.
The red signal that was [Detect Monster] told me where the spider was, but not being able to see its figure directly hurts. It would be dangerous if it gets a "running start", so let's annoy it.
I started to throw rocks at the spider so I wouldn't waste MP and waited until..., there! The spider came at me with full force! Too bad, but you're too slow! [Create Trap]!
The strands of threads were plastered on the floor in front of me and produced a weak, but still sticky, glue trap. The spider stepped on the trap and lost its balance from the stickiness, slowing down its charge which forced it to trip.
I dodged the tumbling spider and shot more threads at it. When enough threads were covering it, I activated [Create Trap] again, this time producing a spiderweb..., using the threads attached to the spider as some of the materials.
"Mwa-hahahaha! How're you feeling now, you mismatched spider-freak!" - Garami
I couldn't stop myself from releasing a burst of evil laughter. As planned, the spider's legs are too out of synch. Their power levels are too different from each other. If it tries to force the thread off unskillfully, it'll rip off its weaker legs. The fear of that is preventing it from doing anything at all! So glad this guy's got some AI brains. If it only moved with certain patterns, then this plan would never work.
Seeing as the spider couldn't move, I jumped onto its back and drew my dagger. It's about time I got to use this thing.
*Stab*
*Stab, stab, stab*
The spider let out a pained roar, but it didn't die. Tch, how annoying...
*Stab, stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stab stab, stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab...*
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: Boss battle cleared! Acquired 3.0 AP as a reward for having subjugated the boss: [Wandering Arrogance]. First-time clear bonus: The "Arrogant Clobber" item. No damage clear bonus: 3 AP Your level has increased by 5. You have reached Lv.8. You have obtained 2.0 Aether Points. You have obtained the title: [First Boss Kill] Your Karma Value has fallen. |
About time! I thought the blade was gonna break...!? 3..., and then 3..., and then 2 more!? A total of 8 AP!?
YA-HOOOO! Spring has come for me! After..., after all these years...*sigh of unparalleled sadness*.
While digesting the sorry history that's my life, I noticed something that had appeared in the middle of the field. That was close. I could have overseen it with these faulty eyes. Thank you, [Detect Treasure].
Opening the chest, I found a..., "flashy club", to put it lightly. It looks weak, yet decorated with several jewels..., and I'm not good with STR, so this thing's a miss. And the only other thing here..., a medallion? One-half of it, at least. And [Identification]...doesn't work. Tch. Wait, does that mean it has some relationship to that coin or the papers I found? [Identification] didn't work on any of those...
And the last thing in the chest is..., a crystal orb? Hmm, [Identification] works on it.., the treasure!! This orb's the treasure of the grey spiders!! That was damn easy! Did the spider here steal it from them?
In any case, let's keep the medallion and take this orb back to the spiders. As for the club..., I got a good idea~.
---
After hurrying back to my Player Room and returning to the boss' battlefield, I found the chest and the club right where I'd left them. Both are too heavy for me to lift anyway. Not that's any problem~.
I ripped the item that I'd stored inside my Player Room. Yes, this is the "bonus" that the black-market merchant gave me! A free ticket to call that merchant again!
"Hey, Gloooo..., who are you?" - Garami
That's strange. Instead of that bundle of living darkness-looking fellow, I'm met with a suspicious-looking old "gentleman". He's dressed in black, has a silver-colored mustache, and even got a top hat and a monocle. But the expression on his face is outright telling the world that he's a nasty fellow.
"Good day to you too, miss. My name is Ronandart, member of the Blackmarket Union. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Ah, so I got a different guy this time. I'm repeating myself here, but this guy looks too damn suspicious..., well, better him than Glock.
"I wanna buy something from you guys, but first, there's something I wanna sell." - Garami
"Oho~? To have the chance to buy something from a beautiful lady like you, this must be my lucky day. And what do I have the pleasure of purchasing from you?" - Ronandart
"Every item in this place." - Garami
"......pardon?" - Ronandart
"Every item in this area that I'm not wearing, plus anything that one can't obtain information of with a [Identification Lv.1] skill." - Garami
".........w-with "everything", you don't mean..., everything?" - Ronandart
The false-looking gentleman asked me with a frail voice as he looked across the mountains of trash that covered the area. I gave him a silent nod with a friendly smile on my face-
| SYSTEM MESSAGE: Your Karma Value has fallen. |
And you're scheduled to appear AFTER I've done the deal, so just shut up!!
