Name: Natasha

Race: Mandrill lvl 9

XP: 310

Size: 70

Type: Beast

Faction: Unaligned

Armor: 0

HP: 72/72

Strength: 6/Speed: 10/Endurance: 7/Magic: 5/Plasticity: 1/Luck 6

Senses: Vision 3, hearing 4, smell 2, taste 1, touch 2

Abilities: Balance 2, omnivorous 2, aposematism 1, innate magic 5

Skills: Bite 1, strike 3, grapple 2, throw 2, climb 2, sneak 3, hide 1, dash 1, dodge 2, block 1, discern weakness 1, mysticism 1, quickstep 1, tumbling 1

Spells: Bluster 5 MAX, windfury 5, jetstream 1, cloud step 1, thunder missile

I laid there quietly in the water, submerged to my ears, and with my eyes closed just listening to the water rippling and letting my muscles relax. Honestly it was just as good if not better than leveling up. I opened my eyes again to actually look around at the room that the hot spring was in. Right next to the door was a wooden “porch” like area, but it gave way to natural dirt and stone. It was surrounded by walls and a roof, but other than that was fairly bereft of decoration. That isn’t to say that the stones themself weren’t aesthetic, but no man made decoration I mean.

I was almost loathed to actually move, and in fact I wouldn’t if not for the fact that I could so easily float. Dragging myself along with just my finger tips. There was one large stone sitting in the center of the spring, which I circled around to see the back end of the room, which was empty save for another small porch and a second door. I wanted to go open it, but not enough to actually leave the water to do so. So I was sat in a sort of stalemate with myself, but my desire for relaxation was winning out over anything else. After all, I’ve nearly died, and I’ve only been here for what, three days? A nice hour-long bath couldn’t hurt.

And so there I sat, letting the heat sink into my muscles and through my fur, silently thanking god for this brief bit of respite. I was tempted to doze off then and there but I know sleeping in the bath isn’t good for you, and I was conscious of overheating. I stayed for what I could best approximate forty five minutes to an hour to be before I had to drag myself out, subjecting myself to the chill of the air. Dripping like a wet dog, I had the same reaction as one as well, shivering once before rapidly shaking out my fur, throwing water around everywhere and descending in ripples down to my limbs. Now I’ve seen dogs poof out in cartoons after they dried off, but this was the first time I’d actually been subject to it myself. My fur poofed out like a Pomeranian charged with static.

I brushed it down around my face so I could see, but for the rest of me it worked as a bit more of a buffer between me and the chill in the air, so I let it be. Though as I did, I made my way into the room to the back and opened it up slowly, peeking only my head in. It looked like a small room, only having a few buckets and a few baskets, and a slightly lower floor around the buckets. I looked in the basket and saw a few rags, which I take it that this was supposed to be something like a dressing room. Though looking at the area around the buckets I spotted the holes for drainage in the lower floor, so it must also be a place where you bathe before entering the hot spring… Which in hindsight makes more sense. Jumping straight in like I had would probably have been rude.

Luckily for me there is no one here to reprimand me for it. So I continue to the back of the room and open the next door, which enters into a small narrow hallway. Very narrow compared to the hallway in the front. In the front you could practically call it a foyer, but back here if you had two people walk side by side their shoulders might rub the walls. Sneaking through, I followed the hallway to the end where they led to a set of stairs going back up. I went up with them to the second floor again and came to only one door at the very end of the hall. Which I opened, and entered out into what looked like a broom closet. By which I mean exactly the same as one of the bedrooms, but instead of a mat and shrine, there were buckets, washcloths, brooms and other such things. So I suppose that this is some sort of service tunnel? Weird.

I step out of the closet, and see it was indeed at the very end of the row of rooms on the second floor. I stepped out, scratching my chin in thought. This dungeon was odd. There was nothing really here. Which I suppose is to be expected when it says it’s a level 0 dungeon, but that just begs the question as to what it means to be a level 0 dungeon. Did it used to have things living here? Or did it just spawn like this? Obviously the building implies that something built it, but I don’t know if that’s how it works in this world. I trudged back towards the center of the hall where the locked door was and thought for a moment. The two versions that I’ve thought of both have implications. If it started full and ended empty, that means that dungeons don’t just spawn monsters endlessly, which shouldn’t be the case considering that mr. “king of havoc” respawns. Though that could be because he’s undead?

Alternatively there were monsters here and it was abandoned by them. Given the shape of the temple it would make sense to have something humanoid walking around. So they were maybe just smart enough to leave. Which would be interesting. The other option of course is that dungeons are man made, which would explain the whole mining tunnel look, and then proper dungeon inside. And here someone would maybe have been trying to make a dungeon for some cult or something? Or the dungeons just poof into existence out of nowhere. But if it did, then why would it be empty? Unless they spawn in empty and whatever is around comes to claim it? I contemplated this thought while looking at the door, halfway trying to figure a way to open it, but the attempt was half-hearted at best.

I tapped my finger to my lips when I simply shook my head. Wait, I climbed in through the roof. Why wouldn’t I just do the exact same thing and go through the window of the locked room? I climbed back out the window, gripping around the shingles to keep from slipping as I made my way to the next room over. Though I could tell that this room was significantly larger, as it sat directly over the entranceway doors where there was much more space. I circled around the outside carefully until I came up to the window, seeing the shutters were closed and reached out to give them a tug, but they didn’t budge. Huh, the windows were locked too. So I gave it a bit of a shake to see if I could figure out how it was locked, trying to peek through the shutters to see inside. By my best guess, it’s a latch in the center. Which actually shouldn’t be too hard to get unstuck. I drew the knife out of the pouch that I only just realized I got soaking wet. Should have taken my skirt off before jumping into the lake. Though I suppose that’s karma for not cleaning off first before jumping in the spring. So, fair.

I took the knife and wedged it in between the shutters and slid it upwards. If it’s just one of those hook latches then this should be all I need to do. I slid the knife up until it hit something, but it wasn’t a hook, it was wooden. So I angled the knife up to see if I could lift it still, and I could, but not easily. I had to stiffen my wrist in order to keep from dropping it as I lifted up until I could pull one of the shutters open and see what was blocking me. It was another wooden bar, just like what was on the door but smaller. And as soon as the window opened, I got a good look inside. It was mostly the same as the other rooms but was larger with a larger shrine towards the left wall. There were also four tapestries on the walls that all had something written on them that I can’t understand, and in the middle of the room, taking up the bulk of the floor, was a slightly elevated circle made of wood but had a layer of what looked like some sort of fiber matting? Maybe wool or something.

I hopped inside and looked back at the window for a moment before continuing over to the circle. It looked important, whatever it was. Though I couldn’t for the life of me guess what it was. It was way too big to be a table I’d think, and not tall enough. Unless you were sitting on the ground. Maybe it is the equivalent of a boardroom for meetings? I hopped up onto it and as soon as I did, another message popped up into the air in front of me.

[Level too low to claim title]

Huh? That was the same message that popped up last time, when I fought mr. havoc. Ah! Duh, this is an arena for the boss fight. And I guess since there is no boss then just stepping into the ring counts as a victory? But still, too low of a level to claim whatever title this place would give. Whatever title that would be. Though that said, the MAX on my skills said it’s locked until level 10, so maybe that is the threshold? Still, I’d need about 600 more xp to get to level 10. That isn’t too far away any more.

So the question is, what would having this title actually grant me if anything? Like, do I become the boss of the dungeon? If so, cool, but I don’t want to be stuck here either. Maybe it’s just a cosmetic thing, for announcing myself before battle, like mr. havoc did. Which would be cool at least. It would probably be too much to ask that I also get cool boss powers along with it, but a girl can dream can’t she? I hopped off the ring and the message disappeared as I made my way to the barred door, getting up on two legs to clumsily push it up and out of the way so I could open the door.

All in all, this was a nice little sojourn for a bit, plus, if ever I need a place to stay, I can just find my way back here. Though make sure to come and go during the day. It’s already dark here for one, and I can’t get a torch through a waterfall; and two jumping in that lake at night would be terrifying. I shuddered at the thought. Imagining swimming through that inky blackness was just… just no. Awful. I descended the stairs, headed for the front door first before remembering that the doors were massive and heavy. So I let out a sigh, heading back up the stars again and back out the window. Climbing out onto the roof, and descending the pillar down to the cobbled stone below. I started to make my way back to the bridge, walking across it again and only sparing a glance down at the water below. It was dark and mostly still waters, which made it even creepier to cross over somehow.

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Still, I made it back to the waterfall, the sound of deafening water echoing loudly throughout the cave as I made my way closer, and suddenly realized the reality of the situation as I arrived. I knew I was going to need to jump back through the waterfall, but in my reveling in the hot spring, I completely forgot that the water out here is going to be freezing cold now that I’m used to the hot water. I sighed internally, hoping to cling to the memory of just sitting back and relaxing for a bit longer before wind started to kick up around me. I exhaled as the jetstream started up and I padded twice more before rocketing forward, off center from the waterfall so as not to headbutt into the stone. I took in a deep breath again and dove through the curtain of water.

I landed in the lake carried aloft by the water rushing forward. Though after getting over the initial shock of cold I realized something else, the water around me bubbling and frothing as the jetstream struggled to keep going through the water. Interesting; I had not considered what would happen to the wind in a place that has no air. I started swimming, and though not as fast as I was boosted while running, I am swimming faster than I was before. So that is a good thing to note for next time. Wind skills seem to work under water, if only less so. It died down a few seconds later as I swam my way to the shore, pulling myself with grit teeth out of the water as all the heat was sapped from my bones.

I shook myself dry again, this time even more thoroughly than I had before, wanting to get every last drop of water off of my body. As I poof up again, still shaking vigorously, I made my way up the beach where the other monkeys were still seated together in clusters as usual. Makes me wonder if the mandrills of this world act like mandrills of the real world. Real world? That’s not right, this world is real. Assuming I’m not just in a coma and someone jacked my brain into a video game, which… well it’s possible, just unlikely. The old world, that’s more accurate. But yes, I don’t know hardly anything about monkeys in general, much less mandrills. If I knew more about them, then I might be able to do a lot more. One more reason to miss the internet.

I sigh, shaking my head as I wade through the crowd finding a nice rock to sit on, folding my arms up under me as I laid there like a loaf of black bread. I should probably focus now. I got my hours worth of relaxation, more than I’d ever hoped for. After all, how lucky can you get? Now I should get back into trying to level up again. Go hunting for something else around here to get that last 600, and get me to level 10. Question is, if I go big or small? Do I just find more of those lizards hanging around, those are worth 60 or 70 xp. So ten of those at most would do it. That or I could go and try to hunt down something bigger like those cats that Boris fought yesterday.

Actually, thinking about it, ten lizards is probably way better than trying to fight one cat. The cat would most certainly be more of a challenge, and probably not worth the investment in trying to both hunt and kill when the lizards are much easier to deal with. The only problem would be in spotting them. Though now that I think of it, the frogs were like 100 xp I’m pretty sure, so I’d only need about six of them. Plus they don’t even move, so they should be easy to find. Even if there aren’t five there then I’d still be a couple hundred closer. The rest I can make up with lizards or flat beetles or something like that.

I nod to myself in a silent affirmation, padding my hands onto the stone and kicking my legs out from under me to lift myself up. I followed the edge of the water to where it started to flow into a stream. I followed it down the way fairly slowly to keep my sneak skill active as I went. My eyes were very keenly trained at the trees around me, being very paranoid that any one of them could secretly be a gigantic mantis. Though I was lucky enough that they all seemed to be normal trees for now. The only thing I did spot were birds in the tree above chirping and singing away.

I made it to the pond again after a few minutes, seeing only three frogs this time, all sat in the center, looking outwards, which only now stuck me. The three of them were all sitting with their backs to each other, they’re watching each other’s backs. It was actually kind of clever on their part. You got someone to make sure you’re safe while you just sit and wait for food to come to you. Their primitive amphibious brains however were still no match to my sagacious monkey brain. All I need to do is… well… hold on.

Thinking about it, if I were to jump right in and try to grab one, they would no doubt see me coming and they’re frogs, chances are they are much better swimmers than I am. They’d just need to grab onto a leg and drag me down to be sure I can’t come up for air. If I were to climb up into the trees above then I would be risking being part of that situation I was in before, pouncing down from above and landing on top of him with a stab, only for the impact to shear off my own thumb. I stroked my chin contemplatively as I mulled over it like an old man with a crossword puzzle.

Well, if I really wanted to, I could cast cloud step, which would make it really easy to jump right in and land safely, but it would also mean I had to wait another ten seconds before I could cast again. Alternatively, it could be an opportunity to test out my thunder missile. See if it was actually worth the investment or if it was just a sunken cost. So I went sneakily around, grabbing three very small stones, small enough that I’d comfortably pick it up with two fingers. I waited, taking a seat knowing that after I tried this trick, stealth is effectively out of the window for this fight. I lined myself up, taking in one deep breath to steady myself psychologically for the sound, arm extended out behind me to really put my hip into the throw.

KRACK-THOOOOM

The sound resonated like a gunshot through the trees and echoing back again with equal force as the small stone ripped through the air, and missing all three of them, before tearing a chunk of bark off the tree that it hit instead. For that split second of initial failure, I was disappointed that the stone hadn’t landed the blow on it, but instead all three of them jumped at the sound, leaping into the water at different angles so they were all decently far apart. I reached into my bag, pulling out the bone knife with a surprisingly quick flick of the wrist, and watched the dark shape of the frog swim to the edge of the pond, sticking its head up and trying to jump to dry land.

Naturally the jump came out of the water to land on the bank, and I was already up and waiting for him there, one arm cocked backwards to slam forwards again like a mean right hook. The knife at first didn’t penetrate when it hit, simply turning the head with the blow, looking like it was about to glance off, but the weight of the frog was still moving forwards and the weight of the frog turned the glancing blow into a ripping as the corner of the wedge didn’t so much cut as it tore the flesh away. Now as awful as that sounds, it was still a relatively small scratch, which the frog didn’t mind as much when the mouth opened, and with a lightning speed pulled back and snapped forwards around my forearm.

-6 hp

The toothless jaw snapped around the arm and I could feel the crashing bone trying to snap all the smaller bones of the hand. Though luckily for me though it meant no bleeding which had been my bane for the past couple fights. My other arm swung around to grab at the first thing it could get a grip on, which was the frog’s jowl. Now I wasn’t strong enough to lift the frog by the face with one arm, but I am strong enough to wrench the face to the side to throw the weighty frame of the frog flat on its back. The stubby front legs wriggled, clearly unhappy about their position but I was more focused on the back legs, as even though they were flopping around just as useless, if one did hit me, I’d be the one tumbling instead.

With my arm still suck, I bared my teeth, more as an expression of frustration, but it reminded me that I can still use those too lunging forwards to sink my teeth into the soft belly of the frog, which in fact did not taste like chicken. So on top of the jaws attempting to snap my arm off, I also felt like I had been lied to as well, and honestly that might sting worse than the bite did considering the slimy texture wasn’t inviting at the best. My fangs stayed sunk in, wrenching back and forth as the jaws opened again, fitting even more of the arm into its gullet as the jaw snapped into my bicep

-6 hp

Naturally I did not take too kindly to someone actively trying to eat me, and so I tried to show them how it felt growling out as I threw my head back and forth sharply like a dog with his chew toy. Eventually midway through the scuffle my cooldown came back and I did not hesitate in the slightest, windfury very suddenly surrounding my fangs. They dug in deeper, and those swift sharp tugs went from wrestling to dismembering very suddenly.

130 XP

That was one frog down, going limp as my fangs dislodged from what was left of the neck, very glad to pull my arm free of the frog’s mouth, gripping the bone knife tightly as the mucous trailed from my fingers. The other two frogs had both beached themselves at the other end of the pond, but as soon as they saw me fighting with him, they turned to start hopping over to us. My fangs were still coated with wind, but the frogs' methodical pursuit meant that the winds would die down before they made it over to me. I wasn’t too bothered when considering that so far, I could just trade blows with little consequence. Not to say I was offering the arm to him, but I did try and bait out on the frog’s attack.

The frog’s jaw quickly snapped shut, out just about less than a foot away from my fingers, and left me an opening to bring up my other arm, and with an almost shocking application of force, hammered my fist town, slamming the top of the frog’s head into the ground. Now this hit wasn’t a ton of force, I am still a monkey after all, but it did give a loud thud against the ground which made me feel better about having my arm bitten so harshly. This was short lived however as the world went dark again, the upper half of my body enveloped by the jaws of the second frog once more. This time I was getting grumpy.

-6 hp

I growled slightly, kicking uselessly at the air and I was lifted off the ground, knowing my cooldown was just about up. The very moment I felt the pseudo lung fill, it contracted again and sent the world barreling end over end through the air. I heard a splash nearby as I landed back on the dirt, head spinning as I knew the one remaining frog was still in front of me but couldn’t focus on him through the vertigo. I grumbled as It reached out and bit my shoulder, but my other hand still had the knife thankfully, which turned my uppercut into an upper slice dragging the corner of the wedge across the right forelimb.

-6 hp

Again, I was fine with trading blows but unlike when it grabbed my arm before, this time the arm was free to move, giving the underbelly a few slashes but nothing major. Until my open hand reached up and in the thrashing about, grabbed one of the frog’s eyeballs and squeezed. Now my head was both down and facing away so I couldn’t see the aftermath, but one good squeeze and the eyes popped as simply as one might a singularly, overly large grape.

130 XP