Chapter Thirty Two - Small Grind

Chapter Thirty Two - Small Grind

Dungeons! Every adventurer wants to go dive dungeons! What is it about those man-eating caverns that causes people to lose their wits!? Oh sure, there are rewards for the lucky and the victorious, but the vast majority of adventurers who challenge them die on their first dive. Of those that survive, around three in five dont earn enough to cover their expenses - including their medical costs - and end up destitute and broken. Of those that do earn enough to cover their expenses, maybe one in one thousand actually strike it big and come out with riches and powerful artifacts.

Then a bunch of idiots see that one party and decide they should become adventurers themselves, starting the whole cycle again.

Better they had all gone out and killed goblins or something. At the very least, they would have been doing something that helps the world as a whole instead of gambling with their lives for nothing.

- Vice-Master of the Dorywnville Adventurers Guild, complaining - drunkenly - in a local tavern.

My efforts in exploration were not particularly rewarding. Oh sure, I got the Drawing Skill and the Cartography Skill, and those were good.

[You have learned the Skill: Drawing! Drawing is now Level 1!]

[This Skill improves your ability to draw pictures!]

[The greater your Drawing Skill the easier you find it to remember things you have seen. For every Level of Drawing your effective Dexterity is increased by .5% at all times. Your effective Perception, Acuity, and Dexterity are increased by an additional 1.5% per Level while actively using the Skill.]

[You have learned the Skill: Cartography! Cartography is now Level 1!]

[This Skill improves your ability to make maps and recall terrain!]

[For every Level of Cartography your effective Perception is increased by 1% at all times. Additionally, your effective Acuity and Dexterity are increased by 1.5% while making a map.]

However, it was soon becoming apparent that I was living in a bowl. Even with my Leveling and the bonuses from my Skills, I have a pretty terrible Perception. When you throw in the fact that there are trees and shrubs all around and add to that the fact that I am small and so my point of view is only a few centimeters off the ground, it would be fair to say that you could hide a cliff face a few dozen meters from me without me ever noticing it.

I had decided to explore to the north of Newthome and it hadnt taken me long to run into a rocky cliff face. At first, I thought I was in a valley, but a couple hours of walking made the curve of the cliff clear. The water that fed an actual pond, which itself fed the swampy area where my little pond was and a stream which flowed away from it, came from a spring about halfway from the center of the bowl and the western edge.

Given that I wasnt underwater right now, that water had to go somewhere, and following the stream eventually allowed me to discover a gorge that the water had carved through the rock. It led out east and was probably my way out of here, if I wished to leave. I had to admit that I somewhat did, but what would be the point?

There might be people out there, but given that I was a toxic lizard monster I doubted I would exactly be welcomed into society. No, it would be better to continue to explore here for now, Level a bit more, and learn a few more Skills. I left it alone for now, but marked the area on my map for the future.

My full map was not a very impressive thing; I had difficulty drawing with my front claws and nose. But I was able to read it, and that was what counted. I was in a bowl-like valley area that was maybe a couple of kilometers in diameter. At the very center there was a small pond that was fed from the spring in the west and had a stream leaving it to the eastern gorge. North of the pond was a swamp that made up the majority of the northern part of the area but gave way to forest as the ground got higher closer to the valley edges.

The southern half of the valley was a dense forest, much denser than the one to the north because it wasnt broken up by water as much. It was hard to explore because the entire area was a bloodbath and I was ambushed multiple times from the dense undergrowth. The only exception to this was a portion of the southwestern edge of the valley near where the spring was.

That area was rocky and only had a few plants. The sun was nice and warm and felt really good on my scales, but the lack of cover meant that even though there were less enemies there I ended up fighting quite a bit anyways. It was also here that I was disabused of my belief that I was the apex predator in the area.

[Juvenile Stone Lynx, Lvl 3]

[A relatively shy monster that combines the speed of a hunting cat with the endurance of stone.]

[While not particularly aggressive, the Stone Lynx is considerably dangerous to adventurers who lack blunt weapons. The fur of the Stone Lynx is literal stone and while it is not a golem itself, the same tactics apply to the Stone Lynx as do to golems. Sharp and piercing weapons are generally useless while blunt weapons like maces are vastly more effective.]

It was, for whatever reason, uninterested in killing me - because I have no doubt it saw me long before I noticed it - and seemed far more interested in sunning itself and grooming its fur. Its fur seemed to be actual stone, despite the fact it flexed and moved like hair would.

The grey-and-white feline was the size of a smaller puma from Earth but far fluffier looking, except that the fluff was leaving scratch marks on the rocks underneath the cat whenever it shifted. The cats eyes appeared to be actual topaz gems and the claws obsidian and I slowly backed away and decided to avoid that area as much as possible from then on.

It wasnt the only apex I ran into either. The southeastern forest contained another monster I would prefer to avoid if possible.

[Mature Blood Moly, Lvl 12]

[A rare herb that is used in various resistance potions. This individual has been exposed to a high amount of mana and mutated.]

The only way around the stream was through the Lynxs territory, and the Blood Moly likely couldnt kill the Lynx. I wasnt sure if the Lynx was likewise unable to kill the Blood Moly, but the stone fur of the Lynx made it immune to the Blood Molys roots. At least, that was my theory.

As for the Lynx itself, well, the northern part of the bowl was mostly water and swamp. It would sink and drown rather quickly, so I didnt have much to worry about from it. I suppose this made me the apex of the northern part of the bowl? Was Was I becoming territorial?

I was, wasnt I? That desire to explore earlier, it was the same desire to explore any animal would have when establishing a territory. I explored, decided that a place was mine, and now I wanted to defend it.

The mere thought of a monster of equal power coming through my territory made me angry, furious even.

I still didnt have nearly enough Willpower, although I dont think this instinct was as bad as the other ones. It was easier for me to twist to my own desires. My instinct wanted me to explore and see new things? I was able to turn that into exploring new Skills for a decent amount of time, and now that it wanted me to defend my portion of the valley I could twist that into improving my Skills!

Better Skills meant better Evolutions, which meant better defense!

***

Weeks later...

Name: - Species: Hatchling Komadus Lizard Level: 4/5 Experience: 137/150

Class: -locked- Health: 80/80 Mana: 7/7 Stamina: 100/100

Statistics:

Str: 32 End: 31 Vit: 24.6 Agi: 19.6 Dex: 14.6

Per: 23.6 Acy: 28.6 Wil: 16.6 Cha: 22.6 Mgc: 14.6

Lck: 163

Abilities:

[Breathes through her Skin](racial) [Toxic Skin](racial) [Toxin Control: Minor](racial)

[Regeneration: Minor](lesser)(racial) [Scale Armor: Minor](racial)

[Envenomed Bite: Hatchling Komadus Lizard](racial) [Poison Resistance: Major]

[Disease Resistance: Minor] [Better First Impression] [Healthy Thoughts]

[First Words] [Killing Blow]

Skills:

Ambush: 2 Analysis: 2 Cartography: 1 Charge: 3 Cleaning: 1 Climbing: 2

Composing: 1 Charm: 1 Crafting: 3 Digging: 5 Dancing: 1 Dodge: 3

Drawing: 1 Etiquette: 1 Intimidate: 1 Jumping: 4 Meditation: 2 Poetry: 1

Reading: 1 Singing: 1 Sprinting: 2 Swimming: 3 Stealth: 5 Taunt: 1 Throwing: 1 Tracking: 2 Trap Making: 6 Writing: 3

Tomorrow - hell, maybe even tonight if my traps catch enough - I will Evolve again. The anticipation, the desire to be stronger, I can hardly get myself to go to sleep. I cant wait!