Chapter 12: [Arc 1] Chapter 7: Exploring the Dungeon (At Last!)

FINALLY!

Finally, I the System Message I wanted to see. 

Back to the point, I reached the required level of my thread skill! Check it out:

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Skill [Spider Thread] has reached LV.8.

[Thread Color Customization] has been unlocked for the skill [Spider Thread LV.8]

Heh, the thread skill is called [Spider Thread]. It's obvious from the name, but it's a limited-to-spider type skill. Guess I'm lucky to have it, maybe?

I got to know that the SM's pop up when new abilities get added to the skills as well as when you gain bonus skill points. yeah?

The skill increased when I had to fix up my home after a new frog got webbed again.  What is it with these frogs? It's supposed to be flys that gets captured by spider webs, not their predators.

I managed to appraise the frog this time and learned it was called a [Pond Jumper]. These guys are weaker than the Greycave Rat but are still able to beat ten of me in a fair fight. I'm not gonna be depressed at this point, but it's still frustrating! Stat-wise, the frog was somewhat of an all-rounder, but its VIT was the highest one. 

OK, enough frog-facts. It's time to make a camouflage cloak. 

Don't think that I just was producing threads while I was raising skill proficiency. I trained myself on how to weave threads to make cloths. This would be impossible normally since I don't have any real hands, just two stubs that I make from stretching my body. Therefore, I used a more orthodox method:

Instead of weaving threads by going one row and two rows, or whatever those on Earth did it, I tried to make the clothes the same way as papyrus in the old Egypt. 

First I made rows of threads with no stickiness, then I added columns of new threads on top of the rows. Afterward. I made only the top side of the row-threads sticky, as well as the underside of the column-threads, essentially glued them together.

This may not be the same as the old Egyptians did it, but I've got a thread skill to work with, and  I'll use it! Not that I could do it any other way. I gained even more proficiency by doing it this way, so it's a win-win situation. I could just buy a weaving skill from the skill shop, but this way is simpler and cheaper.

I managed to create several sheets and cloaks with this method, including a comforter and a futon. You know, those Japanese mattresses that lie directly on the floor. Now I've got some real bedding! Not that I can sleep, but even so! No one said I couldn't live a dungeon life cozy, am I right?

Enough with the flashbacks. Let's test out this new thread function.

... Red thread, blue thread, green thread... lot's of threads, more threads, even more threads, rainbow threads (just kidding)...

Okay, I think I get it. I can change the color of threads I make, including those that I've already made.  Now, I just need to make a new cloak and change its colors. I could just alter one of the sheets that I made before, but proficiency tops all others.

---

I've started on the exploration of the dungeon. Creating the cloak was easy now that I had the experience of doing it. I just repeated what I did with the prototypes while adding a blueish camouflage pattern to it. All the rocks in this dungeon have a blue hue to them, must be because it's a water-typed dungeon. Leave it to the fantasy world to make a dungeon follow a theme color. Maybe I can find sapphires or something similar here.

If I just didn't look like a kid playing as a ghost, then everything would be perfect! 'Well, better to look a little childish than being monster dinner.' I keep repeating that to myself, but it is not working!

The part about not being any monsters here is a good thing. Guess these parts of the tunnels were more desolated than I first thought. 

The tunnels are splitting up to new passages, creating a natural labyrinth. It is a dungeon after all.

People are probably expecting that I would end up lost and can't find my way back to the nest, but think again! I've gained the perfect labyrinth-solving tool that will not be disturbed by monsters now: a blue thread!

No, seriously. I've spun a thread since I left my nest in the same color as the dungeon floor, making it practically invisible for anyone except those with observation skills like [Magic Sense]. 

The thread is also a limit to how far I should go. Since it costs SP to create threads, I'll use that to decide how far into the dungeon I should go. When I have a certain amount of SP left, I'll follow the thread back home.

This will net me some proficiency for [Spider Thread], and I'll train my SP stats.

Yup, you heard me. You can even train your stats, not just your skills. Guess it's obvious, considering that you could do that even on Earth. 

Just look at my current stats:

I left out some parts, but the important stuff is that my SP and DEX have increased since the last appraisal.

But my karma value has fallen... was I too mean against that rat from before? Maybe I should stop with the overkills... and the excessive torments...

---

Still exploring the dungeon. Damn this place is big. At least I know why I didn't get that many monsters in the webs: there is too much ground to cover. The monsters won't go all the way to a forgotten corner of the dungeon where I made my home.

Those that did came must have either been idiots or simply adventure-hungry, hey wait a sec? Is that not the same for me right now? 

... Let's do this carefully.

---

I did say that this place is stupidly big, but not record-book level stupid!

Up to now, I've just walked through the tunnels, while keep going the right or the ones going upwards every time the road splits. But I've seen no monsters or anything else. NOT A SINGLE LIVING THING!

Geez, maybe I should call it a day. Just finishing this tunnel first.

Huh? The tunnel led to a new area. This new place is filled with rivers. Kinda like a horizontal version of the water pillar area. The rivers aren't that big, but there's a lot of them. 

This means that I cannot pass this area. Someone with a liquid body like mine should not be swimming around, I'll get flushed away. Good thing that it's not just rivers here. For each river, there is a bridge made of stone with stalagmite pillars to hold them up. The bridges are making a second floor in the area, making it possible to look down at the river section.

I'll stick to the bridge floor. No way I'm going down there. I don't know the way down for starters. 

If I had to, I could just make a bungee cord with [Spider Thread], but I feel safer up here. I ain't in a need for a hiding space since I have my camouflage cloak. The stalagmites would just be hiding monsters behind them anyway. Up here on this floor though, there's a clear view to all sides, making an ambush impossible here.

I've not come all this way to be hunting anyway. Just having a new area unlocked is good enough. When I go back to my home at the T-junction, I can just follow the near-invisible thread back to here again. But before conquering this zone here, I want to have more than a single-digit HP.

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Just exploring a little more of this place, then I'll turn back. I've only got 7SP left anyway. That's a lot when you think about it. I've laid behind me lot's of ground, but I still have this much SP left. Is the skill level also decreasing the costs of the skill? Shouldn't it be costing more since the skill has turned more powerful?

*...lang*

Huh? What was that?

*...clang**clang*

The sound of metal? Where is it coming from?

Over there! Behind that wall. Well, a wall from the ground floor's point of view. It's more precise to say that several stalagmites have blocked the way under the bridge and ended up as a wall. It's still the river zone, just a little closed off. 

I just need to crawl along the bridge, then I can get a birds-eye view of the situation. Watching how monsters are fighting is gonna be educating. 

Okay, I reached the wall bridge. What's down here?

... I completely forgot about them. I've must have lived too long as a monster.

Down behind the wall, I saw the first humans in my new life, Adventurers.

---

The Adventurers are fighting a cross between a snake and a turtle. It has a turtle's shell, legs, and tail, but its head and neck are that of a terrifying snake. 

The snake has wounded two of the five Adventurers, which are lying in the back, with another Adventure trying to heal them with some magic-looking light. The remaining two are facing off against the snake-turtle. They don't have much of a chance. 

The two front-liners consist of a human male swordsman and what appears to be a goblin thief.

I'm not so sure about the last one, but he has green skin and purple-grayish hair on his head. Unlike the goblins I know about, this one has a round green nose instead of an old-witch-type long nose that goblins should have. Also, this guy's ears are of the round kind, giving him an overall kind demeanor. He is dressed in a dark green hood, with an undershirt underneath and brown pants. Attached to his clothes are lots of belts that are loaded with knives, bombs, and other thievish items. 

The swordsman is a human no matter how you look at him. Light-brown hair and somewhat tanned skin. Not that good-looking, but not bad either. Two out of a scale of three, perhaps. He is dressed in light leather armor and wielding a rapier-looking weapon. Wait, should I call him a swordsman or a fencer? Despite that, this guy may be dressed in shabby equipment like the thief-goblin, but there is, like, something about him that tells you that this guy is someone you can depend on. Kinda like a leader-like feeling.

The magician in the back, trying to heal the other two, has dark green robes. Not that magician-like robe, more like a monk in a monastery type one. The magician has messy blond hair, with pointy ears sticki- wait a minute! That's an elf! Holy crap, first the goblin, now this guy, what's this, a fantasy all-star meeting!? No wait, it's a real fantasy world. Got it, you stupid demon (me).

The elf magician didn't have a staff on him. Instead, he has a backpack filled to the brim with scrolls. Are they those magic scrolls used in games? Wouldn't grimoires be easier to carry?

One of the remaining two Adventurers, the wounded ones, is a human girl dressed like a priest. White robes, decorated with religious-looking accessories. Must be a Terra Sol related religion.

The last Adventure is dressed in heavy armor, but you can see that he is not a human. It is a pig-man, or something similar. Maybe an orc. His face is that of a combination of a human and a warthog, with brown fur covering his face and tusks sticking up from his mouth. Except for those parts, he looks just like a regular human. He doesn't even have a pig nose.

Both the priestess and the orc guardian have horrible wounds. The priestess looks a little better, but they are both in bad condition. The elf magician is trying his best to heal them, but even I can see that it does no help. 

From the looks of thing, like the huge bite mark in the bear's armor, the snake turtle managed to bite through the orc's armor, then threw him straight at the priestess, K.O-ing her out as well. With their healer and tank taken out, the fencer and the goblin thief tries to cover the orcs spot while the elf magician is trying to recover the former two. 

But, yeah... this isn't working. The magician doesn't have the skills for the job. I'm not talking about system skills, but his abilities in using the skills. The fencer and the thief are preoccupied with the snake turtle and can't help. 

Did they explore this dungeon with only one decent healer? You should have more than just one way of recovery when you're exploring a dungeon. Use some pots if you don't have more recovery classes for damn sake.

Hold that thought. Potions? Couldn't that thief have some on him? All those belts aren't for show, right? Is he not able to take a potion out because the snake turtle isn't allowing it? Hmm? Is he looking at something behind the snake turtle?

What's that? Another belt? Did the thief drop it when he went to cover the magician when the tank and priestess were sent flying? Let's appraise it. That was the reason for this expedition in the first place. I just forgot about it for a moment. Seeing humans for the first time in your life does that to people. S-sure...

A belt created for containing potions. Protects the potions from breaking and allows quick access to held potions.

Ahh, that's why. The second means of recovery is out of their reach. Yes, yes. Isn't these guys finished? No hope of victory? The snake turtle just needs to wait till the orc and priestess is dead, then it can leisurely make it's way to the other three.

I guess I should appraise them before they die. Letting the memories live and all that.

Wait. Classes have levels? That's new to me. But I can't appraise the Sub Classes. Must be my skill level that's too low. Good thing that I can see that it's possible to have more than one Sub Class. Not that I can learn one damn it all!

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Skill [Appraisal] has reached LV.6.

[Skill Appraisal] has been unlocked for the skill [Appraisal LV.6]

JACKPOT! Those Adventurers are worth big time in [Appraisal] proficiency. Better than dungeon mobs at least. Well, I have one individual left to appraise. Snake turtle, I choose you!

Strong! This guy's defense is crazy! Its VIT value is a head above the Guardian orc and more so! And it's HP is still that high. I want an HP of that level! Must not forget about that SP. That's the first 200 digits I've seen in my demonic life!

Crap, I thought of the orc as the Adventurers tank, but this guy is a real one. All of its other stats are down in the dump, but with this min/maxing, there's no need for magic or speed when you got that defense. Heck, I bet it's even possible to negate any damage it gets hit with.

There's just one question; how did this Glavras Bun-whatever-tle manage to wound the orc so bad with that low speed and attack power?

It must be a skill that's working here. How do I check that? Appraise the [Skills] part of the status page?

Okay, not what I was after. Should I appraise the number beside it? Don't you dare give me an explanation about the number 6 [Appraisal], okay?

... Success! It's a real skill list! Okay, what kind of skills does this guy... have... what? What's up with this skill?

Hey, isn't this... kukuku... BWA-HAHAHAHAHA! This is perfect! If I use this, then I can take that side out, and then...!

But, there is no real reason for me to jump down there and join the fight. If I want EXP, I just need to go back to my home and wait for more pray. There's probably not long till I level up again. Hmm, decisions, decisions. I could just take that potion belt thingy, that's worth a little- wait-a-freaking-minute! 

That thing lying beside the belt is that... IT IS! Oh boy, now's not the time to twiddling my thumbs. Let's get down there! Cord, cord, I need a cord, ah, I can just make one. There we go.

*Boing**Boing*

Good, just rubbery enough. Well then, GERONIMO!!

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