Chapter 8

When Randidly awoke, he realized that he honestly had no idea how long he was asleep and awake for, so there was no way of knowing how much time had passed. He believed it had been 4 or 5 days, but it was hard to know for sure.

But then he turned his attention to the notifications. Farming had risen to 13. Plant Breeding had risen to 5.

Expectantly, Randidly threw those points into the Wandering Survivor Path.

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to Stat(s).

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to Perception and Reaction.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Health.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Mana.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Stamina.

Although not receiving a skill was somewhat of a letdown, the extra stats also helped. The extra stat he put into Intelligence, committing entirely to his new grinding plan.

The morning proceeded as usual, with physical exertion, interspaced with Iron Skin and Mana Bolt. Even though it had reached the point that Mana Bolt could be cast every 15 minutes, Randidly could tell that he was reaching the limit of what could be really grinded out here. Mana Bolt only increased 1 Lvl. Iron Skin increased two, but that too was slowing. Running and Physical Fitness didn’t go up, but Sprint went up by 1.

What was disappointing was that getting Mana Bolt to 10 didn’t unlock a path for it. But Randidly supposed that it hadn’t worked that way with farming either. Focusing on the now, he threw his 4 PP into the Wandering Survivor.

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to Stat(s).

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to Perception and Reaction.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Health.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Mana.

The nice surprise that Randidly did receive was that his Equip also leveled up while he was applying PP, giving him enough to get the +2 Stamina boost from the Wandering Survivor Path again. The stat point, again, went into intelligence.

Next, Randidly proceeded outside to start his new type of afternoon grinding: having rocks thrown at him by the monkeys. Although the rocks could do about 50-60 damage, Randidly believed that the combination of an improved Mana Shield and Iron Skin, he could shrug off most of the damage.

Randidly also noticed that there were no longer patrols of frogs in the opposite direction, which made him feel better. That fat frog was welcome to the berries. He was growing plenty of his own, or would be soon.

There were three Howler Monkeys waiting for Randidly this time, which made him nervous, but he figured he could handle it. They hooted to each other, pointing at him knowingly, and the smallest ran to the ground to fetch some rocks. When the small one returned, the bigger two smacked it, then took the rocks from its arms and started throwing them at Randidly.

The first was a bit off in terms of the target, namely him, and simply glance off the shield. But the second struck it squarely, sending long cracks through the shield of mana. But apparently it had leveled enough to handle a hit , because it barely survived. This seemed to annoy the first monkey, and the second hooted its glee.

Furious, the first monkey grabbed another stone and whipped it as hard as it could. Which, it turned out, was a lot harder than Randidly was ready for. The shield broke and even with activating Iron Skin, Randidly fell to his back. He checked his stats, and the stone had done 60 damage!

But also, both Mana Shield and Iron Skin leveled up from that one stone.

This was of course ignoring the significant ache in Randidly’s chest, but he ignored that, slowly straightening. Or he planned to slowly straighten, but the viciously thrown rocks meant he hastily rolled to the side, causing his throbbing chest to tighten.

Congratulations! You have gained the skill “Dodge Lvl 1”.

Hopping side to side, Randidly sighed. Well at least he was still grinding a skill…

He also raised his hands and shot a few mana bolts, keeping the monkeys on their toes. However, even when they took them directly to their body, it only seemed to annoy them, causing them to throw stones faster.

After 10 minutes which felt like an eternity, one of the monkey’s finally hopped down, lumbering towards Randidly, and he took this chance to quickly check his mana. It was unfortunately only 27, and that 8 would take forever to regenerate. Frustrated, Randidly blasted the monkey twice in its face with Mana Bolts and then turned to run.

But as he did so, a stone struck his leg, sending him sprawling. The monkey that was on the ground jumped forward, aiming for Randidly’s scrambling form, but he managed to get his feet out from under him and roll forward. Then he started sprinting, not stopping until he was safely back in the Safe Room.

However, as he entered, he froze. Sitting in the pond, with his back turned to Randidly was an extremely tall and broad individual. From the way his gaze was pointed, it looked like he was looking at Randidly’s plants. Based on the blood stains on the floor, the figure was heavily wounded, but he currently was healing.

As quietly as he could, Randidly closed the door behind him. He even got another point in sneak.

But still the figure turned. His skin had a strange bluish tint, and he was bald, but other than that he was a rather typical looking fellow. Except for the third eye in his forehead.

He said something in another language, and Randidly felt something happen in his head, the sounds he made twisting in his mind, and suddenly they snapped together.

“-ah, you had not met Travelers from other worlds before. There, now you can understand, yes? Hello little friend. Are you the one who brought these things here?”

He pointed at the plants. Randidly nodded, wary.

The man shook his head, laughing slightly. “Do not worry friend, we are both Travelers. And you are from one of the newly acquired world, yes? For you to proceed into a Lvl 35 dungeon after such a short amount of time is truly a wonder.”

Randidly sat down sighing. He had expected that the world had drastically changed due to the arrival of the system but… this was all a little much, wasn’t it?