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Chapter 14 Water Floor
🕑 Added 2025-01-07 15:21:44 +0000 UTCIt was a common rule of thumb in gaming: The tougher the monster, the greater the reward. This battle was no exception. Just from this fight alone, James had leveled up again. Moreover, all of his weapon mastery had also leveled up.
James shoved the system notification at the back of his head. He had more important things to do. The blood that had been gushing out from his right arm needed to be stopped. He ran to his leather bag and grabbed the health potion vial in it. He stumbled on his chubby fingers, almost dropping the damn vial. He was about to drink the vial before remembering that the content needed to be poured into the wound. He felt faint, like he was about to lose consciousness any minute now.
White glow emanated from the viscous liquid as it seeped into the wound. The glow faded and left a green stump on his shoulder.
“Damn it. Please remind me not to drink the health potion next time.” James spat as he exhaled. Strength returned to his body as his vision began to clear. He still felt weak, but he was conscious and safe.
[Noted. Health potions are to be smeared into the wound. Hematonic potions are to be drunk. You have lost a lot of blood. The System advises you to drink the hematonic potions now.]
“Damn it. This thing cost 100 coins and the hematonic cost fifty. I only got 40 coins from this encounter.” James spat again. He rarely cursed before he was transported here, even when he was an anonymous user on the internet. However, he found himself cursed a lot lately. Life and death situations didn’t allow for polite and thoughtful speech. All of his emotions were laid bare. James’s situation where he was the sole survivor and only had an emotionless AI as his conversation partner didn’t help either. He found himself more direct and crude in his language.
Surprisingly, he enjoyed it. Nobody nagged him. He had left his PR training and stepped on it with his scaly feet. He always liked honesty more than politeness.
Following the System’s advice, he drank the hematonic potion. The strange strawberry flavor slid down his throat, leaving a strange warmth in its wake. James felt a surge of energy bubbling within. He felt invigorated, as if his previous wound and tiredness were a lie.
“I need to buy more of these potions. This time, I need to put them closer to my body. This hematonic is better than I thought.” James slapped his knee. He took a deep breath before reassessing his situation, “Alright. That monster took out my hand. System, can I use my chimera skill to reattach the arm?”
[No. Damaged parts cannot be plundered by chimera skill.]
“But the arm was cleanly cut off. Can’t you just put them back in?” James frowned. He didn’t understand how this chimera skill worked. He had been able to plunder a half-eaten corpse before.
[Chimera required a complete and intact body part. In this case, you need a full right arm of an orc to replace the right arm you lost.]
The System then displayed an image of an orc, and a red line was drawn several inches above the shoulder into a collarbone. James frowned hard, his frustration was apparent. He had Sahuagin corpses next to him. However, he didn’t want to part with his orc’s hand yet. This hand had helped him so much. If not for this hand, he might lose a skill clash with Sahuagin the next time they fought. The fact that he lost his dominant hand didn’t help his mood either.
“Anything could be done with the orc hand that I lost?”
[You could install its hand, but you need a full arm to use its strength.]
“Well, if I changed my right arm into Sahuagin’s arm, can I keep my orc’s left hand?”
[Yes. Survivors may keep different arms. However, discrepancies when using it might occur due to biomechanical mismatches.]
“Yeah, I need to get used to it. Those uncomfortable feelings. Where the arms felt alien because they were taken from different species, right?”
[Yes.]
“No choice then. Change my right arm into sahuagin’s, please.” James sighed. He was disappointed. He planned on min-maxing his build as any gamer should. He wanted the strength of an orc, the ability to breathe underwater, and the mobility of Sahuagin.
James was not satisfied with Sahuagin’s arm. It felt that it was lacking in strength. When he lifted his trusty axe, it felt as if a rock weighed it down. James could only pray that there were orcs nearby so he could plunder their arm.
“How many coins do I have again?”
[you have 170 coins remaining]
“Hah…. wait, my bow mastery is at level 4, right? Can I upgrade it to level 5?” James was about to spend his coins for another health potion and hematonic before he remembered that his bow skill was at level 4.
[yes. You can upgrade your bow mastery to level 5. Would you like to upgrade it?]
“Yes. and 1 hematonic, please… “Health potions were important, but skills were the more so. Health potions might save you from danger once, but skills can save you multiple times. Stats didn’t rule this new world, skill does.
[orders received. 20 coins remaining. Your beginner bow mastery is now level 5. New Skill unlocked: Quickshot]
After receiving his orders, he tied the vial on his chest using his spider silk and moved on. He considered going underwater, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Going underwater would only be the last resort.
He didn’t know how to fight underwater, and his enemies did. He would be at a disadvantage. He might have their limbs through the chimera, but that didn’t make him one of them. The enemies knew the environment since their birth. Moreover, his armor would weigh him down. He could picture himself swinging his axe sluggishly while his enemies were making a Swiss cheese out of him with their trident.
The cave branched again. This time, the path began to narrow. It was only enough for one man to pass. At the end of the path was a pond barely two meters wide. James sighed. He was about to turn back at the apparent dead end before he could see a golden glitter inside the pond. It was a treasure chest.
“Of course, there would be a treasure chest inside the pond…” James somehow knew why the developer of this dungeon put that chest inside this pond. His instinct screamed of traps when he saw the lustrous chest at the depth of the pond. However, after poking around the water with his swords, examining the walls beside the pond. James found nothing —no traps or hidden monsters.
He frowned, and then he finally realized what the System wanted. The System wanted him to play by their rules. This dungeon has water as the main theme. The rivers, lakes, streams, and even the trickle of water from the ceiling told him that this dungeon was the living habitat of aquatic monsters. Of course, the System wanted him to fight underwater. To test his limits.
After scanning the surroundings for the third time, he took the plunge. Thanks to the sword, axe, and armor on his body, James sank to the bottom like a rock. His former instinct as a human panicked when he tried to breathe underwater. He calmed down when he found out he could breathe underwater just fine.
When he reached the pond’s floor, he realized the pond was wider below the surface than it appeared from above. That seemingly small pond from the top opened up to a wide chamber, bigger than the room above. Several underwater caves branched off in different directions.
James scanned his surroundings. After he was sure he had found no enemies, he attached his spider’s web to the chest’s lid and swam back up to the surface. The current dragged on his fur, but thanks to his new webbed feet of sahuagin, he could swim just fine. He underestimated the stats the System gave him.
“Gah!” He coughed violently, expelling water out of his lungs. He could still breathe, thanks to his new lungs, but the mix of water and air made him gagged.
He pulled the web after cleaning his lungs out of water. The tension opened the lid of the chest inside the pond. After that incident with the crossbow, James swore he would never let his guard down ever again. He swore to god. Of course, there was no trap of any kind. The trap never sprung when James was ready for it. It was as if the gods themselves were mocking his effort.
[You have obtained 250 coins]
“At least I got some money out of this.” James spat. Now, there are two choices before him. Should he venture into the caves above, or should he venture out of the underwater caves?
The choice was obvious. James left a spider’s web trail and left. Even with his new limb, James found himself struggling to orient himself in the water. He had decided that fighting underwater would be the last choice. He had left his spider’s web trail. He could get back here at any moment.
He ventured to another dead end. Like before, there was a small pool in the middle of the room. Like before, the pool led to an underground chamber with multiple caves branched off from it. However, there was no treasure chest at that time.
“Come on, stop being stingy…” James was frustrated with this game’s shitty design. When he looked at his status, His axe mastery had reached level 8.
“System. How many coins do I need to get my axe to level 10?”
[ you currently have 270 coins. You needed 130 coins more to upgrade your beginner axe mastery to level 10. Each upgrade cost 200 coins]
“Do I get another weapon skill after reaching level 10?”
[Information classified.]
“Hah…” James left the dead end. Venturing inside the water grew more enticing with each passing minute. He reminded himself not to be greedy. The potential reward inside the underwater cavern was huge, but so were the risks.
“After this cave, I will try the underwater one.” James reminded himself.
James trudged to yet another dead end with a pond in the middle. This was the fifth dead end he met. He had gotten used to it. As he leaned closer to the pool, intending to investigate the chamber beneath, a gaping maw filled with sharp, pointed teeth lunged at him
“ARGH!!” James shrieked as the gaping maw almost snapped dangerously close to his head. James clutched his head, thinking it might have gone. A silly laugh came from him when he realized he might have been overreacting. A normal bite from sahuagin might have dented his helmet, but it was not enough to decapitate him. Not even a wolf’s bite was enough to crush this helmet.
When it realized it had missed its mark, the monster jumped out from the pond, only for its head to be crushed by James’s axe.
“How’s this for a surprise? Motherfuckers!” James spat.
The surprise didn’t end there as tridents came out from the pond one after another. James leaped backward. Two more sahuagin came out. Monsters created by the System had an instinctive hate toward survivors, so when they realized they couldn’t ambush him inside the water, they leaped out.
It was a strategic mistake on the monster’s part. James quickly rectified their mistake with two weapon skills, one from his sword and one from his axe. After he made another sashimi with their body, The System gave him another 30 coins.
“There better be a chest down there. Otherwise, I am going to murder every last one of these fuckin monsters!” James threatened. Of course, just because James threatened the dungeon doesn’t mean it will give him what he wanted. The chamber below the pond was empty. Devoid of any chest or monsters.
[You have leveled up to Level 17! Coins received 30]
[Name: James
Age: 35
Sex: male
Levels: 17
Coins: 300
Stats:
STR : 75(up2)
Dex: 69 (up3)
Magic: 0
Mana: 0
Skills:
Beginner Axe mastery level 8 (Powerstrike)
Beginner Sword mastery level 6 (hurricane)
Beginner Bow Mastery level 5 (Quickshot) (up 1)
Unique Skill:
Chimera:
Goblin stomach (Iron guts) (stomach slot)
Lesser Mana core (Fire spell, Magic+10, Mana +50)(Extra slot 1)
Orc’s left arm (STR+10%) ( Left Arm slot)
Sahuagin’s webbed hands(+10% dexterity in water) (right arm slot)
Sahuagin’s webbed feet(+10% dexterity in water) (leg slot)
Orc’s torso (torso slot)
Orc’s head (Head slot)
Jumping Spider’s fang (Weak Paralysis)(mouth slot)(new)
Jumping Spiders spinneret (Thread creation)(Extra slot 2)
Equipment:
Leather armor
Leather helmet
Vambrace
Gauntlets
War axe
Longsword
Crossbow
Leather pouch
Waterspout dagger
Health potion
Hematonic potion
Leather bag]
[Do you wish to modify your body? y/n]
[Available body part:
Sahuagin’s webbed hands(+10% dexterity in water)
]
