There we go. A nice, safe hideout, located on one of the hills sticking out of the Dungeon walls. I kinda wanted to set up camp in the same place as before, but it's too far away? Why so? 'Cause I wanna bust open a can of Rogue-action right this instant!
Alright, people (meaning me) have waited for this moment for too long, so here we go!
R-O-G-U-E... there! It's ready to be sold! Well then, don't mind if I do...
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
Do you want to buy the class: [Rogue] from the Skill Shop for 5 Skill Points?
Y/N
Yes, I wanna buy the Rogue class.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
WARNING:
By buying the [Rogue] class, it will be set as your Main Class.
Do you still want to buy the class: [Rogue]?
Y/N
Yes, I know that it will be my main class. That's the point, for Pete's sake!
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
WARNING:
Do you really want the [Rogue] class as your Main Class?
Y/N
SO ANNOYING! Yes, I do. So give me the class already!
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Rogue] has been set as your Main Class.
Through having [Rogue] as the Main Class at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Lightwalk Lv.1]
Through having [Rogue] at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Parkour Lv.1]
Through having [Rogue] at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Ambush Lv.1]
There we go! Aren't all these safety protocols annoying for people in this world? No matter, I've taken a large step towards the path of obtaining the evolution to Kur Kigal... I think.
Even in the slightest chance that I'm all wrong about the evolution requirements, the fact that the Rogue class fits me like a glove doesn't change.
The class allows me to buy previously unobtainable skills that have a connection to sneaking, thievery, trap-creation, and other roguish activities.
It also increases the growth of the SPD and DEX stats... while the increase is pretty minuscule. Better than having the growth of other stats reduced, I guess.
The class isn't exactly helpful in tanking a blow, but so what? 'It's not scary if it doesn't hit' after all. I just need to make that line true. I'm not saying it will be easy, but that's a life I've been living up until now anyway.
Even the skills I got from the class are telling me not to fight as a vanguard. [Parkour] is a skill that enhances one's movement abilities. [Climbing] didn't get integrated into this one 'cause the former also includes techniques for climbing, not just improving the movements while doing so.
[Ambush] gives my attacks an extra oomph when launching a sneak attack. And [Lightwalk] reduces my weight while in use. That one has hidden potentials alright.
Now then, that's the skills I've just obtained, but there's more to come. First off, I wanna use that Skill Scroll I obtained from the Chain Quest. Just gotta take it outta my Storage, and then... how am I supposed to use this thing? Too bothersome. [Identification]!
Name:Skill Scroll - [Fear Resistance]
Item Type: Skill ScrollRarity: Ra Quality: -- Durability: 50/50
Effects:Teaches the user the skill: [Fear Resistance]
Description:
A Skill Scroll that grants the Resistance Skill: [Fear Resistance].
How to use: apply magic power on the opened scroll.
And of course, there's no instruction manual... or there is!? Way to take someone off-guard, [Identification]. The reason why it lacks a "quality value" must be 'cause any such scrolls will give the user the skill in question.
Okay, now to use it... is applying my magic power on it the same as when I use [Aura of Darkness]? Only one way to find out... don't break on me now, scroll.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
Acquired skill: [Fear Resistance Lv.1]
It worked! Wait, if applying magic power is that easy, why do you need a skill that lets you control it to use magic? Ah, 'cause making it appear is different from finely controlling it.
The matter with magic can wait for later. I need to consider what skills I'm gonna take. Let's see, with [Parkour] in mind, I should refrain from picking skills such as the frogs [Jump], and the [Running] skill that the dinosaur monsters living on this floor have. They would just be sucked right into [Parkour].
Speaking of frogs, didn't some of them have the [Whipsmanship] skill? I need that one. And some more thread skills. I'm out of the sauna, so I'm free to use as many threads as possible now. But most of all, I need something to help me with this.
Chain Quest:Bug the Knot (III)
Quest giver:Ultimate Goddess of Water, Lusalki
Quest Description:
Floor 3 of the Water-Knot of Glavras contains a special breed of trees, unique to the Dungeon. They must be part of the Dungeon's machinery.
Bring back some samples of 30 of these trees. A big branch of each is enough.
Quest Content:30 samples of the trees located on Floor 3 of the Water-Knot of Glavras. 0/30
Rewards:Skill Scroll: [Water Resistance]
If having cleared the previous Quests:
Lusalki's Approved Poison Set.
Unlocks: Bug the Knot (IV)
The branches themselves are no problem, but running away from the whole floor that loves the fruits from those trees, and would terminate anything that tries to harm them, that's could become a problem.
Good thing that getting around without being noticed is kinda my specialty. Still, I wanna have something that can help me with this one. Skills that help you collect stuff are handy either way. Let's see...?
Wait, if you get both skills and classes from the Skill Shop, and you can use the skills you already have to search for new skills... then what if you search using your class?
Let's try... it worked! But geez, just four? [Lockpicking], [Lip Reading], [Eavesdropping], and [Odorless]? Wait, you know what, that last one sounds kinda logical. I'll buy that one. The other three sound more like humans in the city rather than for a monster in a Dungeon, so I'll shelve them for now.
As for something to help me with the Quest, how about something like... this... or maybe this... oh, this one looks nice... yeah, this is gonna take a while...
---
A while later, and I'm ready for action! I've pruned 5 trees already as test runs. I used 7 points to get 4 new skills, one of them being [Odorless], and this is the result:
Skill List:
Ability Skills:
[Health Increase (Small) Lv.3] UP1 [MP Auto-Recovery Lv.6] UP1 [Strength Increase (Small) Lv.20]
[Vitality Increase (Small) Lv.9]
Magic Skills:[Darkness Magic Lv.1]
Active Skills:
[Aura of Darkness Lv.11] [Heresy Modification Lv.3] UP1 [Stealth Lv.13] UP1 [Silence Lv.7] UP2
[Odorless Lv.2]1 NEW [Camouflage Lv.13] [Intimidation Lv.1] [Lightwalk Lv.3] NEW
[Thread Control Lv.13] UP2 [Cutting Thread Lv.7] [Piercing Thread Lv.1]2 NEW [Spatial Storage Lv.1]
Passive Skills:
[Whipsmanship Lv.1]3 NEW [Threadsmanship Lv.22] UP2 [Throwing Lv.13] UP3 [Aiming Lv.6] UP3
[Evasion Lv.2] [Parkour Lv.4] NEW [Climbing Lv.10] UP4 [Concentration Lv.7] UP2 [Ambush Lv.1] NEW
[Battle Continuation Lv.1] [Darkness Reinforcement Lv.17] [Debuff Reinforcement Lv.8]
[Gathering Lv.5]4 NEW [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.2] [Parallel Thinking Lv.9] UP2
[Auto-Mapping Lv.6] UP1 [Language Adaption]
Resistance Skills:
[Darkness Resistance Lv.5] [Poison Resistance Lv.9] [Heretic Resistance Lv.7] UP2
[Heretic Immunity Lv.2] [Fear Resistance Lv.1] NEW
Perception Skills:
[Night Vision Lv.18] [Danger Sense Lv.22] [Identification Lv.26] UP2 [Discern Lv.16] UP3
[Magic Sight Lv.22] UP1
Elements:[Darkness Element Lv.15]
Monster Skills:[Poison Bite Lv.11] [Spider Thread Lv.26] UP2
Not bad, right? [Gathering] is a skill that helps you collect items and stuff easier. It's best to say you instinctively know the best way to harvest, pick up, or collect an item. It works wonders with other gathering skills, according to the Note. The [Piercing Thread] skill works in the same way as the cutting-variant. The only difference is that you stab with the thread instead of slashing.
As said before, my work on the other trees has been relatively painless... except for when I misjudged the MP consumption of the new [Lightwalk] skill. My poor head...
However, all those were simple no-name trees, located on the Floor's most forsaken places. No monsters would wanna spend time or energy watching over those. Meaning that this is the real deal. There's bound for something to come once I start working on this tree. Better ready myself for anything that may happen...
---
I arrived at the targeted tree. It stood tall in a pool of river water. Maybe the reason why the Quest involved the trees' because they're connected to the Dungeon in some way? Not my problem, as long as I get paid here.
Are there any big bad monsters here? Left, clear. Right, clear. Back, clear. Front? Only the tree. We're ready to go!
I threw a thread up to the tree and pulled myself up with [Thread Control]. When I landed, I made sure to use [Lightwalk] and [Silence] to reduce the amount of noise as much as possible. It worked... to a certain degree. Not enough to catch the attention of anyone in the city, but you can never know in this stupid-large, empty area. Which is also located underground, in case you had forgotten. Sounds down here can travel damn far.
Let's take another look. Nothing west, nor east, and south... ugh! Dinos at 6 o'clock! No, the two of them are just passing by. They're not even looking over here. I'll wait for them to walk away... two? Don't those guys travel in a herd of three?
*Crash!*
The bad feeling came true! The third dino had crashed into the tree from the other side! Not to mention it has the skills to slip through the [Danger Sense] radar until it came this close...
The dino used its clawed legs to climb the tree more skillfully than I had expected, I climbed higher up the tree in hope of the dino slipping on the thinner branches. Unfortunately, this guy's got some smarts. It doesn't climb higher than the branches that could withstand its weight. We're at a standstill-.
*SPLASH!*
Wha-!? Water? Where did... the remaining dinos! They came back! It's a freaking trap!
The two dinos stayed on the "shore" and spewed blasts of water from their mouths, so I had to use the limited space at the top of the tree to dodge the blasts. And below me is the climbing dino, ready to snap me up, or in half, the moment I lose my grip.
Fine then! Take some [Aura-]-yikes! Now even this guy's starting barfing water blasts at me! Then, what about some thread... nope. I almost got hit by a blast from the shore. Then should I go personal with a venomous bite? Nah, the dino can just jump into the pool with me along with it.
Urgh, this is bad. There's no way out... unless I get a little drastic...
I jumped back from the latest water blast and ended up on the tip of a branch, barely able to hold me. The dinos saw this and wasted no time. The two on the shore tried to keep me at that place with their bombardment, while the third one climbed higher up.
I tried to fight back, but the constant bombardment kept me from doing anything except clinging on the tree branch for my dear life. Before I could act, the climbing dino reached the branch I was on, and-!
Cut it. In one swipe. Damn those claws are sharp. That's was all I could think of while falling into the pool below. The dino looked pretty smug about his action... sucker!
*Splash!*
---
*Cough, cough* bleah. I must have swallowed half the river...
The plan worked. A brilliant escape. The dinos have no idea that I could escape the river torrents after getting dropped into the water like that. The trick is simple; I made an opening with [Spatial Storage] big enough to store all the river water flowing towards me, while also making an opening on the other side, which resulted in a current-less area of the river. Then I just needed to pull myself back on land with my threads.
This strategy was only possible due to my body being incapable of sinking. I'm like a lifebuoy. That, and because I already knew about the topography of this floor. Spending a long time on this floor worked out in the end for me. It's a strategy that only I could use.
Still, no matter how brilliant (or whatever you want to call it) my plan was, this was my first real defeat... and it ended with one of the worst experiences ever. Imagine that you're riding the biggest, baddest waterslide ever, but inside a laundry machine... that was running at max speed.
The only good thing is that the pool part of the "ride" was relatively calm, so I could get a grip over the situation before being thrown into the currents, but damn, that's an experience I don't wanna relive. I crashed into the rocks in the river, I was afraid that my HP would reach 0 before I could activate [Spatial Storage]. It's a miracle that I could keep my breath for so long under those circumstances.
If I ever get a humanoid body, the first thing I'll do is to get the [Swimming] skill. I mean, if there's a skill for jumping and running, then one has to expect a swimming skill as well.
I tried to look after one before, but I couldn't find one even with 7 Skill Points. It must be my body's fault. It's not screaming "swimming athlete" or something.
As for why that dino manage to bypass my [Danger Sense], it's because of one of the skills it had. I got a look at it while falling from the tree. It was [Sneak], the moving version of [Hiding]. Oh, and why I know that is because [Stealth] is the combined, evolved version of the two former skills.
[Sneak] or no [Sneak], it was pathetic of me not to notice the dino. And here I was so proud of becoming a Rogue...
There are two problems with the current me that led to the defeat by the dinos before, and it will bite me in the future if I don't resolve them.
"If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles", was it? Those are famous words from Sun Tzu, so let's honor them now.
I'll go over them while chewing on the recovery herbs that I've got stored. They sometimes pop up as mutations along with the more dangerous types such as the Crackerberries, so only someone with [Identification] like me would even think of picking them up.