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Chapter 34: Third Floor
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 12:45:49 +0000 UTC“Ugh… I chose the Rat King’s feet.”
James finally made up his mind. He was hesitant. Increasing his arm power was important to him. The fact started to dawn on him how important stats were in weapon skill clashes. However, having better feet was crucial to him now. With better feet, he could dodge better, he could keep his posture better, and he might even escape if the battle didn’t go according to his plan.
If he was forced into yet another underwater battle, he could only pray he would be able to loot their corpses to replace these feet. He believed the system wouldn’t suddenly put him underwater. The system might be cruel, but all of this was a test for humanity. He believed the system wouldn’t put survivors in an unwinnable condition. James might be able to breathe underwater thanks to his Sahuagin’s lungs, but how would a normal survivor breathe underwater?
Dark motes of light swirled at the Rat King’s corpse. His Chimera skill consumed the entirety of its corpse and transferred its power to James. James felt his height grow. He was unsteady and fell flat on his face at the sudden growth spurt.
The scaly and small feet were now replaced by more muscular and longer feet. It took a while before James could get used to them. James had grown to a bit more than 2 meters. There was a mirror in his leather bag.
He took it and peered into it. In the mirror, the face of a monster was still there. Of course, James didn’t know why he even wanted to look at it. He hadn’t used his Chimera skill to take a skin or head. But every time James changed, he wondered whether he changed for the better or worse.
He consoled himself. Unlike the previous world, this world had stats now. His stats had increased, and that must mean he changed for the better.
Of course, James didn’t go into the portal. He had the whole room to check.
As expected, he didn’t find anything. This room was devoid of any coins or supplies that he sought. Grumbling, James decided to leap into the portal.
After the usual white room, sunlight shone from the sky onto his scaly skin. James thought the sun was fake, but the warmth that he felt on his scales was undeniably real. James took a deep breath as he enjoyed the view. A vast expanse of green sprawled before his eyes. The verdant green of a savanna lay before him.
James was teleported onto a cliff. A mountain was behind him, while a savanna lay before him. Brown deer grazed on the savanna. James winced as he noticed a white deer, larger than the rest of the pack, standing guard. What made him wince was its mouth. Unlike normal deer, this deer had a mouth like that of a wolf. Serrated teeth filled its maw as two pairs of fangs jutted out from it. Its antlers were like glass—translucent and reflecting rainbows.
“This sure is a crazy world.” James sighed.
A bit away from where the deer grazed, he saw a pack of tigers.
Yup, a pack of tigers, not cheetahs.
James almost ridiculed the system for putting the wrong animals inside a savanna.
The most obvious difference was that tigers had black stripes while cheetahs had black dots on their fur. Tigers were also more muscular, while cheetahs were slimmer.
James stopped looking at the uncanny valley the savanna had before him and focused on his immediate survival.
His food and water supply were fine since he had butchered those mice on the previous floor. However, he needed shelter. This savanna and its lonely mountain offered little protection. Unlike the savanna below, the mountain was barren.
If James could see those animals, they were bound to be able to see him. His scales might disguise him among the nearby rocks, but his leather armor, sword, and axe stood out like a sore thumb.
Instead of climbing down and facing the field boss before him, James decided to climb up the mountain, trying to find himself shelter.
As he ventured up the mountain, one stray tiger crossed his path.
Thinking it was the same as the wolves from the dungeon trial, James equipped his war axe lazily, trying to engage it.
Again, James’s overconfidence proved that he was not the sharpest tool in the shed.
James was about to cleave the tiger in two when he saw it approach. However, the tiger stopped a few meters away from him and opened its maw wide. Flames gushed out from its jaws, engulfing James and trying to fry him like a barbecue.
“Ouch! Damn it! My leather bag and armor!” James cursed as he threw his leather bag away.
James struck gold.
Thanks to his Komodo scales, James was invulnerable to the tiger’s flame attack. However, despite his invulnerability, the scales didn’t cover his eyes. The heat stung his eyes.
As the flames settled down, a golden meteor flashed and went through its throat, exiting from the back of the tiger’s head, ending its life swiftly.
It was a quick battle, and James won it easily. But he cursed the heavens.
“Fucking tigers! Now my armor and bags are ruined!”
As if adding salt to injury, the system told him that his crossbow was also damaged.
On top of that, it also mentioned how many coins James had earned.
[Congratulations. You have earned 10 coins. Would you like to fix your leather armor, bag, and crossbow for 150 coins?]
“Shit! What can I steal from this beast!” James cursed.
However, his disappointment was gone in an instant as he saw what organs he could plunder from the tiger.
[Available Body Parts:]
Flaming Tiger’s Legs (DEX +40%) (Leg Slot)
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing Skill) (Negative Trait: Mana -100, Magic -10) (Lung Slot)
“It’s a lung slot? Not an extra slot?” James raised an eyebrow.
That was an extremely good offer. His lungs right now allowed him to breathe underwater. But since there was no water in sight, they were basically useless.
If he could change them into lungs that could breathe fire like a dragon, that would be awesome.
[That is correct. However, you may install them in your extra slot if you wish. But as your extra slot is full, you must discard either your Water Mana Core or Spinneret.]
“Hell no. Let’s change it now!” James said.
[Installing… Installation complete. Here are your stats.]
[Name: James]
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 36
Coins: 800
Stats:
STR: 125
DEX: 117
Magic: 71
Mana: 780
Skills:
Novice Axe Mastery Level 4 (Powerstrike, V-slash)
Beginner Sword Mastery Level 7 (Hurricane)
Beginner Bow Mastery Level 7 (Quickshot)
Magic:
Mind Flay
Mana Sonar
Unique Skill:
Chimera:
Goblin Stomach (Iron Guts) (Stomach Slot)
Mana Core (Water Spell: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000) (Extra Slot)
Orc’s Left Arm (STR+10%) (Arm Slot)
Eyes of Mana (Mana Sense) (Right Eye Slot)
Golem Arm of Valhalla (STR+30%, Physical Resistance +30%, Negative Trait: Repairable, Mana -200) (Right Arm Slot)
Ratking's Legs (Str +25%)(leg slot)
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing Skill) (Negative Trait: Mana -100, Magic -10) (Lung Slot)
Golem Core (Poison Resistance) (Negative Trait: Mana -250, Magic -10, Repairable) (Heart Slot)
Orc’s Torso (Torso Slot)
Orc’s Head (Head Slot)
Shadow Snake Fang (Intermediate Life Leeching) (Mouth Slot) (New)
Jumping Spider’s Spinneret (Thread Creation) (Extra Slot 2)
Equipment:
Leather Armor Set (+10 DEX)
War Axe
Longsword
Crossbow
Waterspout Dagger
Mask of Identity
Leather Bag
Sphere of Fethusiane
Cloak of Dark Night
James continued his search for shelter.
In the end, he found a place. It was not ideal. However, James found two rocks side by side. If he used his spider thread, he should be able to enclose himself. After fixing his new home, the sun finally set. In the silent night, through the cracks of rocks, James gazed at the starry sky.
James slept as he pondered how to conquer this floor tomorrow.
Sometime in the future, Andrew gathered his fellow teammates before a nuclear reactor complex for the last briefing.
“Brothers and sisters, we have gathered here before the Onagawa Nuclear Reactor. The operator failed to press the SCRAM button before the world trial began. And so, this reactor remains active without a single personnel in it. We don’t know what lurks beyond, but we must deactivate this nuclear reactor, or a meltdown like what happened in Chernobyl might come to pass.
“This reactor is medium difficulty, right? Are you sure we are prepared? To be honest, I don’t buy the system’s words. They said the difficulty in the dungeon trial was the same as a novice dungeon, but no one could confirm the truth. We already lost men in the novice dungeon.” one member said.
“Moreover, what good is fixing this one going to do for us? We still have another reactor in the hard zone.” Another member whined.
“Nevertheless, we must try. If we succeed in this one, we will tackle the hard one next. Kouki already went for the novice one,” Andrew said.
He was an ambitious man. Just like Kouki, he too wanted to be a hero, admired by all. However, he was more mature; his purpose was firm as he genuinely wanted to help people.
“Come on, are you chickening out now? Kouki already got dibs on that nuclear reactor. Want to queue there instead?” another member smirked.
“Ah, yes. I shall speak about the queue.” Andrew’s face suddenly turned grim. “Do not send reinforcements immediately after the number goes down. You must wait at least two hours before sending the next batch.”
“Huh? Why?”
“As a precaution. If we bite off more than we can chew, you will know. That means Sora’s suspicion is correct. The dungeon trial is much easier than a novice dungeon,” Andrew said.
“If the number goes down to three in that span of two hours, that means this dungeon is hopeless for our current level. You must level up in the novice dungeon first.”
The members and Andrew looked at the PowerPoint slide. There, a replica of what was written by the system was displayed.
[Dungeon name: jp2402
Dungeon level: medium
Survivor: 0/10
Would you like to enter? y/n]
The dungeon could only be filled with ten survivors. If the number decreased, that meant they died and new survivors could be sent in.
There was no progress bar, no floor count on this information. Andrew had to challenge it blind.
He could only hope he could win this. He wanted to matter. He wanted to save people. He was ready to sacrifice his life for the greater good of mankind.
“I see… Are you sure you’re okay with that, Andrew?”
“We have finished a dungeon trial. If not us, who else could tackle these dungeons and reclaim our Earth?” Andrew asked back.
“We are with you, boss! All ten of us shall prevail! And these twenty survivors behind me are also ready to sacrifice their lives for humanity!” Dune gave a military salute to Andrew.
“Please watch Kouki’s dungeon too. Send backup if the number decreases. He has the highest chance of success, after all,” Andrew smiled.
“Yes, boss!”
“Alright! Let us march!”
Andrew folded his map. All supplies, weapons, and guns were prepared for him. None knew that these supplies were useless to them, for they did not realize that dungeons forbade such things.
None knew what the dungeon might hold for them.
