In the well.
I kneel down and cut open the boss's chest. The new dagger cuts it as if it were made of paper. I extract the beast core from the boss and look at it.
√ ITEM.
√ Beast Core
- Quality: Inferior
Would you like to absorb it? Y/N.
"Yes!"
- You've absorbed an inferior beast core!
HP +20 MP +20 Strength +2 Agility +2 Stamina +2 Endurance +2
"DIZ" "DIZ" "DIZ" "DIZ" "DIZ" "DIZ"
"Huh?"
- Congratulations, you've unlocked skills!
- For having Strength greater than 50 you'll get the Superior Strength skill!
- For having Agility greater than 50 you will get the Superior Agility skill!
√ Superior Strength.
- You get half of your Strength stat as damage on melee attacks.
√ Superior Agility.
- You get half your agility stat as damage on ranged attacks.
How cool! So, my melee attacks basically get +25 damage? Cool! I then take the sword from the boss and examine it.
√ ITEM.
- Knight's Sword
- Hit +2
- Durability 49/50
I sheathe the sword and tie it to my waist. Then, I pick up the twelve daggers, all the rope, and my broken spear, and carry them back to my room. Then, I drag all the corpses into the pit room and throw them on top of the pile of bones.
When I return to the lair, I decide to take a look through the archway in the left wall that I noticed earlier. This leads to another room, where there is a rudimentary altar inside, which makes me think it is the shaman's room. There are also two torches here, so, with the seven in the lair and the one I already stole, that brings the total to ten. I grab one and stare at it to make sure.
√ MAGIC OBJECT.
- Torch that burns forever.
I should figure out how to take them with me. I'm sure I'll be able to sell them on my way out of here. Then I'll break the altar into pieces and take it out to throw into the pile of bones.
Next, I take out the trash that the goblins used as beds and their supply of wood, and add it all to the bone pile. With the rooms empty, I check all the walls for illusions.
When I find none, I take the nine torches to my room. Now, with ten torches, the room is too brightly lit, so I take one of the light stones with the intention of hiding it, but realize I never identified it. I stare at it until the ability is activated.
√ MAGIC ITEM.
- Daylight Stone.
- Made by trapping a Spirit of Light.
"Trapping? Oh no, that's no good!"
I grip the stone tightly and, with a twitch of my muscles, snap it in half. The light dims to a small floating cloud that immediately flies to the other luminous stone and surrounds it.
"I understand!"
I lower the other luminous stone from the ceiling and split it in half. Again, the light dimmed to a small cloud. The two clouds flew towards each other, describing very close circles, as their lights changed to all the colors of the rainbow. Once they settled and returned to the yellow light, the two clouds flew over my head and surrounded me.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, you've won a title!
√ Title: Blessed by the Light.
- Benefit: You take 25% less damage from Dark and Shadow attacks!
"Oh, thank you, little ones, now go away, be free!"
I watch as the two little puffs of light fly away down the hallway to the well room and then straight up the well. I wish I could fly out of here so easily! I sit down and finish what's left of the soup while thinking about what I should do next. After eating, I walk over to the wall and add the goblins' lair to the map.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Cartography skill has advanced to level 2!
√ Cartography.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, you've acquired the artisanal skill Fishing!
√ Fishing.
√ Level 1
- Agility +1
- You can try your hand at fishing.
Ha ha, did I get the skill even though I lost it? I'll try several more times before I get my first fish.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the fishing skill has advanced to level 2!
√ Fishing.
√ Level 2
- Agility +2
- You can try your hand at fishing.
Well, then there will be fish and mushroom soup! I take the food to my room and start cooking some soup. While it's cooking, I take a piece of the spider carapace and try out the new knife.
It cuts, though it's not easy, which means I can now make armor out of it. I distribute the pieces of carapace and plan what I want to do.
"Okay, the two largest pieces will be used for the breastplate and back, and if I use the last large piece to make a new shield, there should be enough left for .... armguards and bracers? Yeah, I think that'll work!"
I start carving while glancing up from time to time to keep an eye on the soup. I take my time and am very careful not to mess up any of the pieces, as I don't want to go looking for another spider to get more material.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations! The Ivory Carving skill has progressed to level 5!
√ Ivory carving
√ Level 5
- Agility +5 Intelligence +2
- You can carve bones to make objects.
I continue working until the soup is ready. Then I eat half of it for breakfast and save the rest for later.
'Man, how I miss the salt!'
After eating, I grab my bone pick and shovel, grab two torches and head to the room with the hole leading down. First, I carefully scrape away the mortar until I can remove the bricks surrounding the hole. I set them aside for later; once they are all removed, I start pounding the rocks around the tunnel. I plan to widen it enough to get through.
However, I've only made a little progress when my pickaxe breaks. I decide that a bone pick will not be enough to extract the stone, so I return to my room. I pull out all the daggers I've collected from the goblins and sort through them. I set aside the best eight and have fourteen left to use.
I go out to the bone pile and look for fourteen thigh bones. This task is quite unpleasant, as the carcasses have begun to rot and the smell is horrible. The only consolation is that, due to the air flow in the pit room, that smell would be making its way into the throne room.
Once I find enough bones, I take them to my room, where I sit down, take the first bone and notch the end. I then insert the hilt of a dagger into the notch and tie it in place with a piece of string. Once this is done, I shake it and twist it a few times to make sure it's not loose.
After deciding it will work, I spend the next two hours making the other thirteen. Then I pick them all up and take them back to the hole. I'm cautious on my first few shots, but the pick holds up pretty well. I soon learn to aim for weak spots and make the shot at an angle to preserve the pick as long as possible.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Mining skill has advanced to level 4!
√ Mining.
√ Level 4
- Strength +4 Endurance +2
- You can try to mine normal ore.
I soon realize that by doing it this way I will have to make the hole much larger than I had originally planned, otherwise I will have no room to hit as I advance deeper. So I pause mining to remove more bricks around the hole and enlarge the area, and then continue mining.
When I get tired, I enlarge the area around the hole and get to a depth of about a foot. I hope to make even better progress tomorrow based on what I have learned. Before returning, I take the shovel and clean up all the rocks and dirt from the work area, piling them in a corner. Then I go back to my room for dinner.
While I eat, I pick up History of Empire I to continue reading. It's a slow process, as I still have to stop frequently to translate words, but I'm definitely making progress.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Linguistics skill has advanced to level 4!
√ Linguistics
√ Level 4
- Intelligence +8
- You can try to decipher other languages.
Hmm, it says that when the empire was formed it covered the continent, but it doesn't mention beastmen. I read until my eyes began to tire, then put the book aside, washed the dishes and cleaned the room before sitting down to meditate.