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Chapter 26 – Going Deeper
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Items from the Myconid King were 2 gears, 2 rings, 1 bag of spores and a doll.
Stats and Distribution of these items were as follow:
Fungus covered Wooden Platemail
Outfit Type: Plate Mail Vest
Durability: 232/250.
Defense: 50
A quality wooden plate mail infested with mushrooms and toadstools which grew onto the outer side of the wood. Incidentally, the fungi do not deteriorate the wood but instead strengthen it, repairing the structure as long as there are water around. When the fungi growing on the mail are damaged, they will excrete mucus with healing properties, healing both themselves as well as the wearer.
Requirements:
Level 120
Strength: 100
Agility: 50
Effects:
Agility Reduces by 30
Strength Increases by 40
Vitality Increases by 60
Restores 1% of your maximum health every 5 seconds
Others:
Armor restores 10 durability every hour when moist
Armor is automatically unequipped when durability drops below 100
Fungus covered Wooden Plate mail was an excellent piece of armor, the defense was extremely high, the durability of gear was self-regenerating and the wearer got healed with a % gain. In a way, this could be considered a major jackpot except it came with side effects.
When Bunny tried wearing it, the armor started leaking goo-like substance. The yucky fluid did restore some health every few seconds, but the disgusting feeling it had on the skin was unbearable. It not only drenched her, but started over-flowing onto the floor making a small puddle where she stood. Upon looking at Bunny covered in slime, neither of the other 2 wanted to wear it.
In the end, the armor went to Gene's bear-companion. The yellowish brown armor didn't go too well with its red fur, but the bear seemed to like it. Its huge size coupled with thick red fur, helped absorbed the mucus and it didn't mind soaking in such. To the bear, the fluid felt like health potion, able to quickly regenerate its huge health pool. In some way, the bear seems more 'player-like' then the trio, since they couldn't prioritize usability over looks or discomfort.
For those who were wondering why Bunny could wear an item that's way passed her level, it was part of the RR system. Unlike normal games played on computers, where items couldn't be equipped unless their requirements were reached, in VR, the player could simply wear these items manually. For balancing, the item's stats were lowered drastically.
Living hairpin
Outfit Type: Hat
Durability: 90/90.
Defense: 12
A cluster of 4 purplish mushroom of varied height, bound to the same base. The roots of the mushrooms are bendable to become clips and the item can be used as an cute looking purple hairpin. Without disturbing the base, the mushroom caps can be harvested at the cost of durability. Although it look poisonous, the mushrooms called the Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria Amethystea), is not only edible, but very delicious.
Requirements:
Level 120
Effects:
Intelligence Increases by 24
Wisdom Increases by 24
Vitality Increases by 12
Others:
Item restores 10 durability every hour when moist
Item is automatically unequipped when durability drops below 50
The fungi can be snipped off, at the cost of 10 durability and 25% effect each
This hairpin went to Angel. Instead of looking like a clown by planting purple mushrooms centrally on her head, Angel placed the hairpin slightly to the right, clipping it above her ear. Her aesthetic sense actually made it look good on her as the hairpin went well with her new stylish purple silk toga. From afar, it looked like flowers instead of a cluster of shrooms.
Red Mushroom Signet Ring
Outfit Type: Ring
Durability: 50/50.
Defense: 8
A simple signet ring embossed with the symbol of a Mushroom. The base of the engraving was colored red.
Requirements:
Level 110
Effects:
Strength Increases by 20Green Mushroom Signet Ring
Outfit Type: Ring
Durability: 50/50.
Defense: 8
A simple signet ring embossed with the symbol of a Mushroom. The base of the engraving was colored green.
Requirements:
Level 110
Effects:
Vitality Increases by 20
The pair of rings went to Bunny, because those were the only ones left. Even though she got more items then her friends, the distribution was slightly unfair, so the Bag of spores also went to her. Spores were seeds of fungi, therefore she was also the best person to hold them. Bunny's Breeder class allowed her to learn skills of a farmer till master levels, so if she learned farming, she could plant those spores and grow something.
From the stats of the various items, the rings would be considered common drops compared to the Platemail or Hairpin. Since the Subterranean Mushroom Garden became another of her personal dungeons, the Myconid Boss would be farmed. Bunny and friends expected to gather many more of those rings, so she had the shorter end of the stick this time.
Doll of an Ancient
Type: Quest Item
Durability: Indestructible
A doll of a squirrel-human hybrid that was known to exist long long long time ago. They had went extinct since a long long time. The doll was preserved in top condition in an indestructible container of unknown origins.
Quest Difficulty: C
Requirements: Find the location to place the doll
The last item was a doll. A life-size doll of a squirrel were-beast, which knelt down in a praying position. It was more like a statue encased in a transparent egg shaped container with no ways to open. The oval container, with height of 1.5m, was like a tumbler; when pushed over, it wobbles for a few moments while it seeks the upright orientation.
Bunny played with it like a large roly-poly toy, spinning it and knocking it in various directions. Whenever it upright itself, the doll within moved. It only moved its head and neck, where it would always end up looking at the only opening in the Boss room. Finding a similarity with the chickens in Sera-Ranch, Bunny decided to try following its vision.
Picking up the doll and its casing, which was both bulky and heavy, Bunny carried it out of the cave and placed it at the intersection they had used earlier to split the Boss from its minions. Angel and Gene were pretty freaked out by the creepiness of the doll's self-moving head, so they just followed Bunny silently.
After it righted itself, the doll automatically started turning it head, facing the leftward path. By this time, her friends had understood her actions and gave Bunny free rein to deal with the doll. Neither was enthusiastic enough to take the job from her, due to the spooky nature. Inside, they both knew it was just a game, but knowing and experiencing it was different. They did help by casting some strength enhancement buffs on Bunny.
Letting the other animals rest, the tiro went with only Meow and Nyaa as escorts. After an hour of following directions given by the statue and killing stray Myconids on their way, they finally found a pit. It was located at the end of a dark tunnel that didn't have any glowing stones, making the pit not easily seen.
Using Echolocation, Bunny understood that the pit was 5m drop with no footholds. It extended further into a wide space. The pit could be easily entered, but getting out would be problematic, so rather then venturing forward without preparation, the trio decided to level up first before exploring further. Reaching the destination was a C rank quest with no time limit, so they suspected that the pit led to another dungeon; it would be either extremely big or much higher level compared to the Mushroom Farm. They also expect a boss at their destination.
*****
Being the first to find a new dungeon gave 7 days worth of double exp and loot. The trio found the dungeon on a Saturday morning, so the double event would last through all weekend, ending past midnight. To make full use of the bonus, the trio had became temporary gaming addicts, spending all their waking hours online with little breaks for food.
Starting on the first floor, the trio fought simple fungus-men, with levels between 90-100. When the whole level had been wiped and the area mapped, they proceeded downwards. Second floor had bigger walking mushrooms with levels between 100-115. The new addition of the poisonous 'purple-cap' held the highest levels. The next floor was a little tougher, infested with more Myconids of levels between 110-125. 'Purple-cap' now share the highest level with 'green-caps'.
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Cleaning up and mapping out the whole dungeon took more then 40 hours game time. Adding 16 more hours to the first rapid run for boss killing, the trio had spent over 56 hours leveling up. In RL terms, they had played for more then 14 hours. Being students, as reluctant as they were, they needed to sleep early, so the group arranged to meet up at 7am the next day.
You are the first to map out Subterranean Mushroom Garden B1
Fame increased by 50
You are the first to map out Subterranean Mushroom Garden B2
Fame increased by 50
You are the first to map out Subterranean Mushroom Garden B3
Fame increased by 50
Just for the whole of Saturday, they went from 80s to pass 110 with some bonus fame. The animals were in-game natives, therefore they couldn't keep up with the players. Bunny solved the issue easily by summoning more animals. With 3 groups of 60 animals each, Angel made up a rotation plan which allowed the animals lots of rest, while not slowing down the hunting speed of the team.
*****
After a good night sleep, the trio assemble again in front of the pit. Before they start with their further exploration, Bunny summoned a special squad prepared by Prize, the squirrel overlord of Sera-Farm. There were 2 reasons for this special squad.
The first reason was bringing supplies to the hunting grounds. The new-comers brought along food and materials needed by the hunting group. Food included dried meat for the carnivores and fruits for the herbivores. They also brought along ropes and planks of wood to be used at the pit.
The other reason was to set up a transportation system, carting the loot from the dungeon to the Manor-House. The amount obtained, from the long hours of hunting as well as the bonus of double loot drop, had way surpassed the volume the 10 initial squirrel could carry. All the loot had already been gathered together near the entrance, waiting to be transported and sold for money. The new-comers' job was to ferry these stuffs to their destination.
With the ropes, Gene lowered himself down and went exploring alone in the new extension. There were no light sources beyond the pit so Gene's Nightvision became vital for information gathering. The trio wanted to know the enemies they would face before proceeding. Angel used her Flare spell to provide lighting above the pit, to be used as a beacon for the exploring Gene.
While waiting for his return, the rabbits were given digging duty. Rather then jumping into a 5m deep pit, Bunny decided to dig the soil nearby making a gentle slope instead. Before they started working, Gene came rushing back then running up the wall using his Wall Running spell. It was a self-cast spell only usable by himself.
“Slug! VERY big one, size of a car” was what he exclaimed before the said being appeared.
Gene was technically not wrong, the width of the slug was the size of a car, but he didn't include the length. The politically correct term to describe the size of that slug would be 'stretched limousine'. Having one car width and several car length, the slug moved very fast considering it was suppose to be a gastropod.
Using her Scan ability, Bunny was unable to determine the slug's level, meaning it was at least 30 levels higher then her 112. The situation didn't look good, after a short hesitation, Bunny ordered all to retreat backwards, moving the battlefield to a wider and more well lit area. It took every point of her Leadership Stats to maintain order because most animals, like her, were partly stunned by the huge monster.
After everyone had moved away, Bunny took a glance at the pit, desperately hoping that the depth of the pit would be enough to stop the slug. Sadly, to her disappointment, she saw the huge slug easily slithered up the 5m height and was now moving towards her. Even if it was a fast moving slug, its speed was still slower then a running human, so Bunny easily outran it while throwing various spells in its face.
The animal formation was simple enough, Gene's Bear-companion took the lead with the rabbits behind. The Cats and Minks hid at the side, preparing to flank. Gene and Angel were behind the rabbits, busy casting all their buffs, while Bunny just ran all over the place shooting spells.
Either Bunny's spells were weak or the slug had very high magic resistance, all it took was a swipe from the bear's claw and the slug started focusing on it. The slug's antennas were swung around like a pair of wreaking ball, creating craters on both the floors and walls. Although the bear was big, it was nimble enough to dodge them; The rabbits were quicker, so they had even less trouble
With the slug's attention gathered to its front, the Minks and Cats started tearing at its side. Surprisingly, it had very little resistance to cuts, so the slug took huge damage from its flanks. As a defense mechanism, the slime covering its body changed from slippery to sticky and had a foul odor.
Bunny already felt like vomiting while staying near the smell, so she did not fault the animals who stopped using their teeth and focused only on their claws. As the new type of slime thickened, it started to inhibit the attacking animals, just as force was reduced while underwater, the mucus slowed down the claw attacks, lowering their damage.
Worried that the battle would drag too long, Bunny started complaining about slugs having too much resistance and no weaknesses... then she remembered the key ingredient to killing slugs. Moving away from the battle, she started digging into her bag.
Pouring salt on wounds would make one cry. Pour salt on slugs would make them cry too. Ever wondered, what would happen when you pour salt on an open wound of a slug? If that was not enough, how about adding grounded pepper, chilli powder and Tabasco Sauce to the mix. As a cook with money and no space limitation, Bunny kept lots of spices and seasonings for her cooking. Never had she thought she would be using them in combat.
Ever hear a Slug roar?
Neither had Bunny, Angel or Gene... That is until Bunny started spraying her mixture of spice and seasonings onto the monstrous slug. It let out such a desperate sound without vocal cords that it looked even more pitiful. Bunny had expected it to rage and go berserk, but the opposite happened. The slug was overloaded with pain and fell into paralysis. Finishing it off became extremely easy.
The greatest weapon against slugs was salt. Before doing anything else, Bunny contacted 'Prize' in Sera-Ranch, ordering it to buy a squirrel-load of salt immediately and contact her when done. Angel was also busy on PM with her uncle who was a merchant. Similarly, she ordered unlimited quantity of salt until the price reached 20% higher then market rate.
Gene went to identify the corpse then informed the two busy buyers that the slug was level 180. He had saw lots of them in the lower sections, but luckily, slugs usually move alone, so they could be tackled one by one. Slugs were sensitive to smell, so when Gene went close, it immediately detected him and started chasing. This sense could be made use of, luring them up to the well-lit areas.
With the animals resting and buying orders sent, the trio reviewed their impression of the last fight. Removing all the elements of surprise, the slug was actually easy to deal with. The trio had to admit they were disorientated by its large size, high level and seemingly powerful attacks and defense.
During the last battle, Gene's bear-companion had taken a full hit from the wreaking ball antenna, losing only 25% health. The bear was naked as it couldn't wear its new armor yet. Therefore, mathematically speaking, all the rabbits could take at least 3 hits without dying due to their strong armors. In event that they got stunned from a critical hit, the squirrels could drag them away quickly. As in the last battle, none of them even took a direct hit, so being critically hit was regarded as 'just in case'
As for the damage dealers, there were far too few of them. With only 7 minks and cats on each side, the amount of damage was already substantial, but the large body of the slug could easily allow double or triple the amount animals to attack concurrently. Rabbits should also join the flanking as their piercing spears would be less affected by the sticky mucus.
With their discussion done, a new battle formation was created. The animals took some time getting used to it. By then, the salt Bunny ordered had arrived. She summoned the squirrel that was loaded with only bags of salt. With preparations done, they went back to slug hunting.
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