Being the highest level and having the highest endurance after putting the points I got from killing all the rabbits outside I go first climbing down the rope into the rabbit hole.
Just so you know I was originally level 14 when I started my slaughter of the rabbits and when I finished killing the last one before the boss I was at level 19. Then with the three from beating the hidden boss and his six minions I reached level 22.
This gave me 8 levels which equaled 40 extra stat points.
I put 10 on each physical stat. My stats are like this now.
Status
Name:
Droso
Race:
Human
Level:
22
Stat Point:
0
Health
100%
Mana
100%
Stamina
100%
Class:
Arthromancer
Satiety
100%
Thirst
100%
Strength
65
Agility
50
Dexterity
46
Endurance
60
Intelligence
31
Wisdom
27
I would prefer working on my intelligence and wisdom but since those are related to reading and studying I would take a while with those while I travel and study my bugs.
I still have several specific bugs I want to tame. Very specific ones that focus on defense. I’m sure everyone has heard of Pill bugs. They are small round bugs terrestrial crustacean that have a hard round shell and are similar to armadillos, when in danger they roll up into a ball to protect the weak underside.
They are hard to find due to the size but I hope to find some and make them bigger and if I can get them into a humanoid form I can only wonder what it would be like.
Anyway, at the bottom we found a wide cave that was 2.5 meters high and 2.5 wide.
It was a pure tunnel and unlike the messy tunnel we came down from this one was neat and the dirt was heavily packed all around. This was probably done so that there would be less chance of cave in’s.
After checking that there were no rabbits I yelled up to them.
“Area is clear you can come down!”
After a moment Levi appeared beating her wings with her lance and shield in hand. Noticing a small growl of her stomach which makes her blush a bit. I pat her head.
“You will get some food soon.” I tell her which makes her nod.
After some minutes Flor appears and finally everyone is down.
“Wow it’s dark in here.” Flor said.
“Yeah, now that I remember I forgot to breed my Flare bugs to be stronger.” I say.
“Yeah, Flare flies are just regular bugs. If you had them as monsters a single one would light this tunnel and make it start to heat up by itself.” Levi says in a pompous tone but one glare at her and she lowered her head and flew back a bit.
I sigh and call out a few. I called only five and told them to land on my right hand and told them to light up.
I moved my hand towards them and as I guessed it took too much effort compared to a simple fireball or something.
I looked at the minimap but I could see only what the light hit making it impossible for me to guess what was further ahead.
Rabbits have great hearing so even in these dark tunnels they can hear each other and their sense of smell can lead them up to the top.
“Why not release Stealth Spiders into the dungeon and map it out with them. They have night vision and are nocturnal as well as being naturally quiet and it is always in stealth mode when it is in the presence of prey or enemy.” Levi suggests.
Stealth Spiders were Tier 2 bugs and not a monster. I haven’t greatly focused on breeding them as I did the other hive bugs. Far too few of them as well because of the slow breeding speed of spiders that aren’t part of a hive.
I had around 120 that could actively leave the hive and 40 that are females with eggs. I find the best males and females and leave them behind. If the strongest males with the best stats of all the six stats exist I can always breed stronger spiders.
I open the portal and watch as a large group of pure black spiders that was no bigger than my thumb nail.
“Map out the area for me.” I tell them.
They split into two groups. I take out some paper and ink. I then sit down leaning on the walls before closing my eyes.
I then focused only on the spiders as I let my hands work unconsciously with my note taking skill.
They split into two groups that made no noise whatsoever. Soon the path splits and both groups turn into four then eight and on.
All the while I just tried to follow.
Several times the spiders stopped and let me catch up. This was definitely the first floor because there were only regular rabbits here but even then the spiders did as I said and hid from them and even the keen nose of the rabbits didn’t pick them up.
Eventually the spiders found junk rooms that stored lots of old human gear. In other rooms they found food storage which were the crops stored there with a few small balls all around the room that let out a cold aura. My best guess was some kind of lesser water magic crystal.
Further in I found a nursing chamber that was filled with baby rabbits and several female rabbits that took care of them.
I’m almost certain that if I can get those out of here I can sell them as combat pets to players. Though I think it may be better to just dump them in my wilderness zone.
After over half an hour I finally found the way down to the next floor. It was a tunnel that had sudden descent and there was a room there that had an elder rabbit in it. It seems he gave orders which meant he was the boss of the floor.
After a while I had soon mapped the whole map so I called all the spiders back. I then open my eyes and find Levi napping next to me and Flor just sitting there looking at something in front of her face.
I looked down at the map in my hand and saw a complex maze spanning a few kilometers. There were 5 junk rooms with human gear. It would be a good place to train our ‘identify skill’ since I am sure there may be some rare items.
Now I’m sure you remember what the dungeon discoverer message said right. First monster I kill will drop a rare item. Now let me ask you. WHY the fuck would I waste this on a weak ass rabbit when rabbitman probably exist. Though I wanted that to be true I can’t make it through the mini-boss room since the elder rabbit notices everything even, my stealth spiders when it got too close.
It seems that a range of around 7 meters is what he can sense even when in stealth mode.
It must be a dungeon mechanism to not allow players from going deeper.
“Alright, I got the map drawn out. I found where most of the rabbits are and where all the treasure rooms are.” I said.
Levi snorted as my voice started to wake her up. She stretched and yawned as she looked over and saw the map done.
“Let me see that. If the map is accurate it will update on my minimap.” Flor said.
You have learned a new Skill
Mapping
Basic Level 1
You are someone who can draw the outlines of a map and give a visual representation of a location, cave, region, or continent. Mapping can be used to guide people or as a strategic tactician who thinks during warring times. Mappers are a vital person to any expedition.
+3% more ease at drawing maps of an area within a 5 kilometers range.
****
As I had expected really, since I drew a map of the first floor of a dungeon. It would be strange to not get this skill.
“Oh nice, about 75% correct. Not bad for your first map drawing from the view of over 100 spiders.” Flor said. “How do you do that?”
“Part of my class forms a hive mentality with all the bugs, remember.” I tell her.
“So by ‘meditating’ on it you can see what they see?” she asked.
“More or less. I guess feeling their position or maybe getting a few images of the surroundings through their eyes is possible but the bugs I have are all simple minded.” I said but I felt a small jab.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
I then looked at the teary eyed queen.
“Okay the ‘normal’ bugs are simple minded.” I tell her and she starts smiling.
Flor giggles at the exchange making me frown.
Soon enough the spiders began to appear. I didn’t recall them because it would eat up too much mana to open a portal for each one.
I wait about 10 minutes until all of the spiders are back and before I open the portal a thought comes to mind. “I wonder if I can cause a race to develop a specific mentality through an order?”
I look at Levi and pass her the question through the hive mind.
She tilts her head as she thought and then shrugged.
“Guess she doesn’t know or just doesn’t have it imprinted in her mind so she can learn from experience.” I thought. “I hope this experiment works because it would turn out so awesome if it did.” I say out loud.
“What are you planning?” Flor asked.
*cough cough*
With a few coughs I cleared my throat and looked at the 120 spiders.
"From now on you shall train, breed and grow into beings that are colder than the coldest ice. Emotionless killers known as Ninja. Beings that have a presence thinner than air and a worse bite than the deadliest poisonous snake! Return to the hive and grow to be the ultimate ninja.” I tell them in a commanding tone of a general.
They suddenly all let out shrieks of excitement and as I open the portal. They all rush into the hive and I instantly feel a breeding frenzy. That said as I pay attention I feel that each of them link up with spiders of similar gene. They all knew which gene they had highest potential in and they were selfishly breeding in that.
“I think it just worked… the normally solitary Stealth spiders are pairing up with spiders that would increase the potential of one specific stat without me even saying it.” I tell the two.
“You gave them an evolutionary goal so they simply have to reach it. Naturally they know how to breed to reach a goal if they are in a group.” Levi explains.
“Nature is scary.” Flor said.
“Tell me about it. That is one of her charms I guess.” I reply.
It makes Flor nod since she, like her name says, is a Plant lover and similar to how I like bugs to an obsessive degree. She has a similar, though to a lesser degree, interest in plants but her interest is mostly for the medical use of them.
Anyway since I had actually seen the entire dungeon when I make the system pull up the full map I had seen I could redraw a better more accurate map of the dungeon and this time it was 100% correct. I ended up also leveling up mapping skill to level 2 in the process. Yeah it may seem easy but when you have elevations in the drawing where two or more tunnels overlap you get to get creative in your drawings.
I used the original map I had drawn that showed the location of where the rabbits stayed, mainly wider rooms they stayed in, which holds them in large numbers. Thankfully they don’t seem to move around that much unless there is an alarm.
To prevent this, I use my minimap and the first map to move us through the darkness while using the Flare Flies few seconds of light to find our way.
I would use the Stealth Spiders but after my speech I can’t call them because they are in a frenzied state and don’t listen to me anymore. I need to be careful with how I take these ‘Mentality change’ speeches. It gave them a sudden boost in Int and Wis because of a clear goal given to them.
Anyway I lead the way avoiding any of the rabbit filled rooms and going towards the treasure rooms. These are ignored rooms mostly since the rabbits don’t have much use but I see them being guarded later on.
After 15 minutes of using the flashing red lights as a guide we finally reach the first treasure room.
Near the back was a large pile of items that looked old and worn out.
“Flor, want to store the pile in your inventory so we can identify later?” I asked.
“I’m near my weight limit with blacksmithing and alchemy materials as well as potions and arrows for the bow.” She replied.
“Daddy, use my room then. We can fit tons in there.” Levi said.
I had thought the same thing. It was a big wide space and it would be safest in her room or in her own inventory.
“Alright let’s put it in your room then.” I said.
With my words I walked over near the pile and with a thought a wide portal opened below the pile and swallowed the entire pile.
Looking around there was some loose items and books that were also thrown inside.
We would need to organize all this later but for now it was fine to simply toss it inside. After cleaning out the room of EVERYTHING. We head to the next one that was nearby and do the same.
With this room cleared, we now cleared all the accessible treasure rooms so now we were forced to fight but the thing was that from the tunnel we were in. We could go directly to the elder rabbit but before that…
“Flor, there is something I need from you.” I said.
“What?” She asked confused in the darkness.
“Quit the party and kill the floor boss.” I tell her.
“And how would I do that?” She asked me in an irritated tone.
“It is a simple elder rabbit. I doubt it wouldn’t be more than the level from the ones outside.” I tell her.
“Why don’t you kill it?” She asked.
“Why do you think I have been putting so much effort into avoiding fights?” I asked.
“Don’t know, you are afraid or something.” She said bluntly.
“Haha, very funny. No, the reason is that I get a rare drop from the first creature I kill. Since my class involves the bugs I have, I think it transfers over the Levi as well. I want to kill something more worth it down below in the lower floors.” I tell her.
“Ah, I see. A normal rabbit would give something crappy as a rare item and the elder may give another Elder ring.” She mutters.
“Exactly, the floor boss room is just ahead so get ready.” I tell her and then break up the party.
She does just that, she removes a quiver of iron arrows and then removes a veil of green liquid and drops it into the bottom of the leather quiver that held all the liquid.
“Does it turn into a poison arrow just like that?” I asked.
“Yep, simply covering something with poison is enough. There are some unique weapons that are made in a unique method so that it has magic that poisons people. It’s an assassin coveted weapon.” She says and she finishes her preparations and pulls out one arrow and nocks it and starts walking quietly.
Soon enough we slowly arrive at the entrance of the room. There was a single crystal on the roof of the room that gave off a dim brilliance letting us see inside the room. In the very center of the room was a larger than normal rabbit that had grey fur instead of the common brown one.
Crouching in the shadows of the corridor Flor aimed her bow and slowly pulled the string aiming the arrow. The rabbit’s ear twitches a moment as he hears something but before he could lift his head she let the string go and because of the type of bow, she had the power behind it was much greater than a simple bow. It hits right behind the front leg of the elder rabbit sinking deep in its ribs.
It’s name and level appeared at once.
[Senior Elder rabbit Level 16 BOSS]
It’s health had dropped 20% due to a critical hit that was further boosted by ambush. Not only that, the poison she used was a snake venom found in the nearby forest. The snake isn’t a monster but a normal animal. She had taken several drops of that and mixed it with several poisonous herbs and concentrated them into a deadly poison. The health of the Senior Elder Rabbit began to steadily drop. She didn’t stop as well and pulled the next arrow and quickly pulled, aimed and shot as the rabbit got up in pain hitting it on the front arm it used to block.
The snake poison was a neurotoxin and the herbs were of similar poison which made the effects stronger.
As the rabbit finally looked our way another arrow came its way and it jumped to the left to dodge.
Because his left side was hit the poison was present more on that side and was numbing that side very quickly.
I actually cringed as I watched the rabbit stumble on it’s own feet as it ran towards us. Flor began shooting more arrows and it dodged the first 3 but from then on it could dodge every third one.
In short the first shot it received was already the mark of its death.
When it reached about 5 meters from us, the room being around 20x10 meters, it fell on the ground huffing as his lungs were being affected by the poison.
“Seriously how did a newbie alchemist make such a strong poison?” I asked.
“Experience in real life triumphs game skill level.” She said as she got up and walked over. She took out a long dagger and after making sure the rabbit was effectively paralyzed she lifted one of its large paws and stabbed it through the armpit which was a natural weak point of the body where there is no rib protection and can hit the vital organs easily. It was, in the simplest of terms, a killing technique used to kill and bleed pigs in the past. The aim was to hit the heart to make it bleed the most.
Instantly the rabbit's health dropped drastically and from its arm a huge amount of blood spurted out. She pulled out the dagger and put it in the sheath that was on the back side of her waist.
“I don’t know if I should respect you for killing it so effortlessly or to fear you since you used that kind of tactic and that merciless slaughter move to kill it.” I tell her.
“Think what you like, I don’t really care.” She says. As soon as the hp of the rabbit hit zero the level 4 over her head instantly rushed to level 8.
“Wow, four levels, not bad.” I tell her.
“Yep, quite glad about coming to power level with you though you didn’t help much.” She said.
“You should be glad this dungeon is still unknown and we have it for ourselves for now.” I tell her.
She shrugged and removed something from her inventory.
“Look what I got from the rabbit.” She tells me.
I identify them and see.
Elder Rabbit Gauntlets
A set of rabbit hand like gauntlets. This piece of equipment can work as gloves that will help to keep you warm in cold places but also can improve damage when fighting unarmed.
This is part of a set known as the Elder Rabbit Set.
Durability: 24/30
Damage: 24
Requirements: Level 10, 30 Agi
“Wow, a set item, nice catch.” I tell her.
“Yep, a boss is another thing huh? Now there should be a few other things around here of value.” She said.
As she said, after some looking we found some food items and herbs naturally growing due to the magic stone in the ceiling.
We thought about leaving it there since it would be used to fight the bosses when the dungeon respawned them.
That said I was wondering how these herbs were growing underground so I tried to identify them but failed but I did identify the Glowing stone on the ceiling.
Sun Crystal
An uncommon type of Magic crystal unique to dungeons that lights up during the day and stops glowing during the night time.
This crystal is useful for making magic staves or other magic weapons.
Most sought after by churches because this crystal can amplify their light and holy magic.
So this little bastard was an uncommon and much rarer type of magic crystal. Fucking little thing almost got through. Thinking about it, later on I simply let the bugs raid this place. I don’t really need to come back here because the most rewards are always in the first one to explore it.
“Flor you have a pick axe?” I asked.
“You want to get some of that crystal right?” She asked. I nodded and she pulled out a small one hand pickaxe.
“I figured but being out of range you need to do… THIS!” She said and tossed the axe. It struck deep about 20 cm away and made a few cracks near it.
She had a thin rope attached to. Grabbing it then pulled trying to pull off the rope but it simply made the axe fall out of the hole.
Before it hit the ground Levi grabbed it
Looking up she spread her wings and flew up to the ceiling and pulled her arm back and swung several times on the cracks Flor made causing more to spread. On the last hit the rock holding the rock slid down and she flew away.
After a bit she looked and with it not coming down she flew over and hit the pickaxe on the side and pulled and dislodged the rock which pulled her all the way to the ground.
“YAY I GOT IT!” She exclaimed happily.
She then dragged the rock over to me and looked at me with a large smile.
I couldn’t help but smile at how happy she was for what she did. The dim glow from the crystal was out of place now so it was darker.
I took the rock and used it like a lantern but before that I pet her head. “Yeah you got it. Good job Levi.” I tell her.
She smiles wider and an unnoticeable blush appears on her face.
I looked at Flor and she knew what I wanted.
Walking over she took the axe and began to break off the rock and slowly the light began to fill the room.
Finally the fist sized glowing sun crystal was free and shining bright enough to light the room like a weak light bulb.
“So how do we divide this?” Flor asked.
“If the treasure rooms have rare items in it when we split the items we gather, you can have 3 items from my side.” I said.
“Deal.” With that I grabbed the crystal and held it in my left hand.
“Shall we go?” I said as I walked over to the door.
“Let’s.”
With that we walked down the descending tunnel.
After a bit I noticed how the dirt walls turned into stone and softly glowing moss.
To check this for sure I stored the crystal in my inventory and as I guessed there was bioluminescent fungi on the walls and floor.
“This is interesting.” Flor said with shining eyes as she began harvesting a few mushrooms and some glowing moss.
After I could finally get her away from plants and we finally reached the first room on the second floor.
I felt through the stealth spiders but frowned when I saw I couldn’t use them.
Though I could use other bugs looking through them I saw only the Stealth Spiders had Night vision.
“Can’t use the Stealth Spiders so we will have to go mapping the floor on foot.” I say.
“It’s because of that stupid order you gave them.” Flor said and sighed.
“Whatever, let’s party up again and head in.” She said.
I nodded and sent the party request again and she accepted.
From there we looked through the 15x15 meter room. There were three doors. One on each wall heading a random way.
I choose to go to the furthest one.
We walked through while trying to keep our footsteps quiet. It took some time before we reached a fork in the road and so we went to the left and after about 100 meters we reached the entrance of a room.
Entering the room we see that it was mostly an empty 30x20 room with a 4 meter high ceiling.
There were two doors and one last one with a strange door on it.
At that moment the door opened and coming through the door was a rabbitman with a long bone spear in his hand.
His eyes were half closed and as he entered the room he yawned.
When he finally walked in and saw us he froze as we did because what we saw could only shock us.
[Grand Elder Rabbitman level 23 BOSS]