25 Survival

While exploring the expansive forest of the Third Floor, Linnaeus had been able to identify a total of five common monsters and a single type of edible fruit that resembled a persimmon.

The most common monster present was a small humanoid that rarely reached heights greater than 100cm. They had ghastly green skin, murky red eyes, and emaciated figures that wouldn't lose out to some of the less successful Street Urchins.

These gangly creatures often roamed in small packs of 3-5 and, with their loincloths and wooden clubs, it was clear to see they had some degree of intelligence. Unfortunately, this only manifested in a violent way as, during his travels, Linnaeus saw no less than ten instances of them cannibalizing each other after clashing with other groups.

During his observations, Linnaeus had fought a few of the smaller groups and, as he had expected, they were just about as strong as an average Street Urchin, just infinitely more violent. Their only real advantage was their numbers and rudimentary weapons but, as they were extremely uncoordinated and possessed no skill, he was able to make short work of them with his [Barrier Aura] and horned-dagger.

Through the notifications of the Akashic System, Linnaeus learned the small creatures were called Lesser Forest Goblins. On average, they gave between 30~40 Experience so, while they were a little annoying, he was able to earn as much as 200 Experience after dealing with each group. If not for the fact he wanted to strengthen his Skills first, so as not to miss out on extra attributes per Level, Linnaeus would have gone on a killing spree to harvest as much Experience as possible...

After the Lesser Forest Goblins, the most prevalent monster Linnaeus had encountered were a type of transparent, globulous, creature known as a Slime. They had semi-spherical bodies that averaged between 15~20cm in diameter. From what he could see, they survived by dissolving various plants and the corpses of other monsters by wrapping their bodies around their prey. They could even cover a much larger Goblin like a thin film but, with how weak the enzymes were, Linnaeus felt it would take several hours for them to complete the process.

The Slimes would have actually overtaken the Lesser Forest Goblins in quantity if Linnaeus didn't separate the three different types into their own groups. Thus far, he had encountered a variant with transparent blue skin, known as a Plain Slime. It was the most common among the three, losing out to its kin, the Forest Slime and the significantly rarer Rock Slime. These had green and grey bodies respectively, with the former having a poisonous constitution while the latter made rocky outcrops it's home.

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When Linnaeus had been searching for a cave to escape the cold, he almost thought he had been caught in a small rockslide as a small group of Rock Slimes leaped from their perches to try and attack him. Fortunately, while they had a surprising amount of weight to them, averaging well over 100kg despite their small size, it wasn't something that could threaten his [Barrier Aura]. He lost a bit of SP in the surprise attack but, after that, they were easy to pick off due to their slow speed.

The most curious thing about Slimes was the fact that, after killing them, they would dissolve away into a puddle before leaving behind small lumps of a gel-like substance. Though he didn't know if it was edible, Linnaeus had looted a few of them since they had a surprisingly sweet smell. Then, after incapacitating a Goblin, he had forced the creature to ingest the sweet lump, wondering what effect it would have on the emaciated monster.

Since the Goblin's health had started to slowly regenerate, Linnaeus deduced that it shouldn't have any kind of poison so, while it might not have been the wisest decision, he ultimately chewed on one of the dark blue lumps. To his surprise, it was more tart than sweet, not all that dissimilar to a potent citrus-type fruit. This was only the beginning of his surprises, however, as, after ingesting the rather peculiar lump, it wasn't just his health that began regenerating slowly.

Linnaeus had an almost wolfish grin on his face as he saw his SP ticking up by a few points every few seconds. Since all the Slimes he had encountered only gave around 10 Experience each, he made a point of killing and looting as many as possible. From this, he learned that the gel lumps each had a different effect, with only those produced by Plain Slimes regenerating SP. As for the lumps looted from Forest Slimes, they made his body feel strangely refreshed and had a very potent medicinal taste to them. This was still much better than the grey lumps produced by the Rock Slimes, however, as it felt like chewing on a piece of gritty leather.

When he finally managed to get it down, Linnaeus felt it was more than worth the effort as, much to his surprise, his Constitution had actually gotten a +5 boost. This increased his Health by 100 and made his skin feel slightly harder than normal, indicating his defense had also increased. Though it had only lasted for around five minutes, this was still a very important discovery that made Linnaeus excited about what other benefits monster drops would provide.

Unfortunately, any experiments would have to wait until the following day as, with night descending upon the land, the temperature had decreased well below freezing. He had been forced to set camp in the cramped hollow of a large tree as the only cave he found gave off a very dangerous feeling. Though it was uncomfortable, this ended up being the correct choice as, shortly after his departure, a large bear-like monster ventured out into the darkening forest for its nightly hunt.

Since it was impossible to make a fire without drawing attention to himself, Linnaeus spent more time concealing the hollow and insulating the insides using Horned Rabbit pelts. He imagined that Ryuuna would kick him out if she returned to find no space for herself so he made sure to make a thicker blanket for himself, fully anticipating being thrown out into the elements.

Fortunately, Ryuuna never showed up so, while he wasn't able to sleep deeply, Linnaeus was able to get an adequate amount of rest as the forest outside became covered in a layer of frost. He knew she was okay, as the members of a Party were able to see the Health of their respective members, so he assumed she had found refuge for herself for the night.

What Linnaeus never could have expected was, at the time he was drifting off into unconsciousness, Ryuuna was curled up snuggly inside the den of a Tyrant Mountain Bear. She had easily killed off the 4m tall monstrosity before claiming its den, and the food supplies within, for herself.

Though hey went out to hunt periodically throughout the day, Tyrant Mountain Bears were the type of creature to stock up additional food in their dens for their offspring to consume. Unfortunately for this particular Bear-like monster, it had lost out to a far more tyrannical existence.

In the very short territorial battle, it had its left arm ripped off before having its skull crushed by the intruder who, at first, seemed like prey delivering itself. After that, Ryuuna unceremoniously killed the three massive cubs inside before using their surprisingly soft bodies, a stark contrast to the metallic fur of their mother, to stay warm. She was still annoyed with the Love Bird Title so, while she briefly thought to return for the night, part of Ryuuna wanted Linnaeus to die while she was away.

After this thought had crossed her mind, Ryuuna decided to test Linnaeus by seeing how long he could survive without her protection as, unless they both agreed to go to the next Floor, he was stuck here. Since a person could only leave a Party by expressing their intent directly to the Party Leader, there wasn't anything he could do but try his best to survive or come seeking her out on his own accord.

Ryuuna had a decent understanding of the power possessed by the monsters on the Third Floor so, unless things got exponentially harder, she felt Linnaeus would only be in danger if he encountered other Fledglings. Since he was very cautious, enough to escape notice on two successive Floors, she felt the chances of this happening were relatively slim. Still, she didn't leave him fully without hope as, with her ability to sense his approximate location, she didn't venture too far away. If he decided to run toward her at his fastest speed, it shouldn't take longer than an hour for him to reach her location.

With such thoughts on her mind, Ryuuna snuggled up next to the deceased bear cubs, muttering, "If you can't even survive three days, don't blame me for abandoning you..." before falling asleep.

---

Though he wasn't doing it to meet expectations, Linnaeus was already doing everything in his power to avoid detection, train his Skills, and survive. He also had a good idea of where Ryuuna was located but, rather than seek her out, he continued to venture around the area to get a better understanding of the terrain.

In a fight against increasingly more powerful foes, knowledge of the terrain could save his life and allow him to escape danger. He even set a few traps using twined ivy and, though it wouldn't really do damage to anything larger than a Goblin, it could at least trip someone up during a chase. Since he would periodically hear a sharp bell sound within his mind, indicating he had gotten experience in his [Trap Set] Skill, Linnaeus knew it had, at the very least, some small effect.

At this point, Linnaeus had half a dozen horned-daggers and, to save SP, he began to string the pelts of Horned Rabbits around his waist. He didn't feel comfortable being below 2500 maximum SP so it was the only thing he could do unless he chose to outright abandon his spoils.

Fortunately, similar items could take up the same slot in his Inventory so, while they also ate away at his SP, Linnaeus had been able to collect a large number of Slime Gels. He primarily focused on the blue variant looted from Plain Slimes, as they increased both Health Regeneration and SP Recovery. They also tasted much better than the green and grey variants, of which Linnaeus only kept a small amount due to their potential of being useful in a pinch.

He couldn't be certain, but Linnaeus felt the green gel could be useful for treating fevers and weak poisons. As for the grey gel, they had the obvious use of providing extra defense and increasing his general survivability. Though it might not matter much with his [Barrier Aura], his past experiences had made it very clear he couldn't rely solely on his Blessing.

Linnaeus' greatest strengths were his ability to move relatively undetected, allowing him the element of surprise. Most of his enemies weren't accustomed to fighting against his unique combat style so, if he fought cleverly, it was possible to take out people much stronger than he was. Though people like Ryuuna might be an exception to this, as she could apparently sense him without much effort, it was still useful against the majority of foes.

With this in mind, Linnaeus focused on evading enemies in order to increase his proficiency with his [Presence Concealment], [Trap Set], [Trap Disarm], and [Stealth]. When he came across monsters, he would use a combination of his [Knife Master], [Assassination], and [Barrier Master] to harvest a few resources and Experience towards Leveling up.

Though it might not be wise to increase his actual Level before raising his Skills, Linnaeus felt it would greatly increase his survivability by raising his base Wisdom to 100. This would give him the associated boon and, due to his rather peculiar Title, an additional 3 Spi, 2 Cha, and 1 Luk per Level. These were extremely important attributes that were inordinately difficult to increase so, before he got yet another new Title, Linnaeus felt it wouldn't be a complete mistake to benefit while he could.