HOOOOOT! And many! Too many tortoises!!
I kept on running from my pursuers while feeling half-cooked to death. "Why did this happen"? Well, let's go back three days or so, back to when I decided to enter Floor 2...
---
Three days ago (estimated).
Hoooot. Damn hot. Steaming hot. The second floor's too humid.
Floor 2 of the Water-Knot of Glavras. It's more like a long corridor, with open channels that rivers of water run through. Underneath these channels are a blazing hell of fire. The rivers are boiled, and the steam gets taken away by what appears to be natural-formed ventilation shafts if that's possible to be made naturally. Probably a Dungeon thing.
Anyhow, due to the boiling of the water, the floor's not only hot, but it's also humid as heck! So hot I'm almost having trouble breathing! Maybe this floor's the distillation floor of the Dungeon? Why couldn't it also include an ice cream factory?
I walked through the floor and thought about the potency of my threads. They'll probably catch fire the moment it gets too close to the fires. And all the moisture in the air ain't helping either. If I wanna use them, I have to think of tactics here.
And here I thought that I could do this since I had already passed through this place. No way, Jose. I looked for [Fire Resistance], but I can't buy it at the moment. Don't have enough Skill Points.
I've got 6.8 of them now by the way. I bought two mental-support skills before entering the floor. [Concentration] and [Parallel Thinking], to be exact. [Concentration] helps you concentrating on stuff, while [Parallel Thinking] does the same with thinking about several things at the same time.
They may be not that flashy, but I've come to accept it. Besides, passive skills are the best when it comes to grinding. Active skills such as magic and special moves may get more proficiency each time you use them, but the passives are used all the time, so you only need to farm skills that help you with what you're already doing, then you get proficiency without even trying.
And yes, I know it's the lazy man's way of doing things, but it's an efficient one. Having to remember to use your skills all the time's tedious and energy-consuming, if the skills need energy.
Hmm, should I get some more skills then? Getting two of them for 1 Point each should be doable. Some of them have reached the point of getting me another 0.4 Skill Points, so I'll have enough for when I get the requirements for Rogue done.
Yeah, let's do that. Then, the two skills I want are...
---
*smack!*
Whoa, too close! The frog's whip-like tongue smacked at the ground where I was one moment ago. I kept on moving backward, provoking the frog to follow me. Which it did... right into my birdlime trap!
Splat! Got ya, sucker! Aww, I love my threads. They stay sticky even with all this humidity in the air. But it won't last for long. I circled behind the frog, watching out for any potential whip-tongues while doing so. Kukuku. Say your prayers. [Poison Bite]!!
*Chomp!* *Chomp!* *Chompity, chompitiy chomp-chomp-chomp!*
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Poison Bite] skill level has reached Lv.10.
You have earned 0.2 Skill Points
Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.
Acquired title: [Monster Slayer]
Acquired skill: [Health Increase (Small) Lv.1]
Acquired title: [Merciless]
Acquired skill: [Intimidation Lv.1]
Acquired skill: [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.1]
One frog down, [Poison Bite] reached Lv.10, and I got three new skills. This must be the most efficient face-to-face fight I've ever done.
But sheesh. What's with the naming of the second one? Merciless, are you trying to make me sound like some dangerous person, World System?
I did a quick [Discern] on the skills found out that [Intimidation] inflicts the Fear status ailment on others when used. It's attribute-less, so it won't be helping me receive some Heretic Technique User title.
[Vital Point Knowledge] is a passive skill that makes it easier to see weak points... or vital points, if you wanna be technical about it. In other words, I'll have it easier to know where to strike for a critical hit.
Did I get the title 'cause of the chomp-festival just now? Or is it that I used the Shredder on Floor 1? It must be both.
As for Monster Slayer, have I ever killed anything that wasn't a monster? [Health Increase (Small)] is easy to get. I gain more HP points for each skill level. Didn't even need to [Discern] that one.
Speaking of [Discern], I used it on the frog just now before I bit him, in case you wanna know.
Name:none
Race:Pond Frog | Gender: Male
Level:4
Karma Value:0
Skills:5
HP: 41/41MP: 11/11SP: 44/44
STR: 32VIT: 22MAG: 9
RES: 11SPD: 19DEX: 36
NT: 81LUC: 86
Skill List:
Passive Skills:[Whipsmanship Lv.8] [Jump Lv.15]
Resistance Skills:[Fire Resistance Lv.3]
Elements:[Lesser Water Element Lv.1]
Monster Skills:[Tongue Whip Lv.10]
Weak. And it doesn't even use its Skill Points. All these skills are either initial and inborn skills. The inborn skills are [Jump], [Lesser Water Element], and [Tongue Whip], since all the other frogs have the same skills.
[Fire Resistance] and [Whipsmanship] are those it learned on its own. The former must be from living on this floor, while the latter must come from his fighting style. Many other frogs also learn this skill. Hmm...
Ah, I almost forgot the reason why I butchered the frog. I just gotta store him inside my Storage and then take out the device.
*Swish!* *Click*
Thanks to the slingshot thread, I attached the tracking device to the big machine-like thing that the frog had obstructed for me. If he only moved, then I wouldn't have needed to take care of him... not that I'm that annoyed at the frog. The return was more than a little worthwhile.
My new strategy of limiting the use of threads worked well against an opponent that wasn't one of those Hosprave Rats, a variant of the normal Greycave Rats. Even so, I won't be challenging any rank E monsters like this. Too risky. Eh, I'm rank F anyway. Going against my seniors like that is like asking to be killed.
Only using threads right before you need it is more difficult than you would first believe. Or, that's how it feels for me, as I'm used to having the traps already made. But using the threads for too long, and they get too soggy for even [Thread Control] to work.
And using the threads too close to a fire will make them ignite. I had to dispose of the slingshot thread the moment the device was attached to the machine. The slingshot's already turned to ashes.
Now then, three machines down, just two more. It's a good thing I had marked the suspicious places I saw on the mental map of this floor the first time I came through. It saves me the time for searching after them. The next gizmo is... not too far from here. Two devices in one day. Score!
---
Back to the present.
And well, I found the machine and all... but it was trapped! And the trap called on the three tortoises to hunt me down!
I've been fleeing for so long that I regret not taking some skill related to it. The tortoises are luckily bulky and slow, so I could slip through them without any trouble. But they're persistent!
They may have some "pursuit"-skill or something, 'cause they're just as fast as me despite not having even 20 points in SPD! To make things worse, [Discern] can't be used on the status of creatures at certain ranks unless the level's high enough. To get info about the rank E tortoises, I need the skill to reach Lv.15. I'm close to it, but not yet!
There's also the "Empowered" status ailment that looks fishy, but [Discern] can't be used on that either! The stamina of the tortoises is greater than mine, so they'll catch up if this continues.
What is this? A replay of the Dread Spirit battle? Do I always have to run away from monsters here!? Grrr... I hate this! Fine, if that's how you wanna play, I'll play with ya real good!
---
The three tortoise guardians kept on chasing Garami with murder in their eyes. After a little while of Garami started to decelerate, just enough to make the tortoises catch up to her little by little.
One of the tortoises, the one in the lead, wanted to finish Garami off as soon as possible. That was the reason why the three of them were spawned after all.
The leading tortoise tapped into its reserves and ran up to Garami. When it was close enough, it tried to bite off half of the spider's body with its [Bite] skill. Tried, is the keyword here.