Hatchling Red was blessed with serendipity. It was only by chance that she realized she possessed a material capable of masking all sound from her mortal enemies, for they believed her to be one of them.
Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Wait, does that work when you’re with wolves to begin with? How about like a hunter in wolf’s clothing! Better.
And so, she got to work.
Hiding near the entrance of the tunnel from whence she came, she carefully began cutting away a pocket into the pelt. A thin membrane peeled away, creating a fluffy pouch which she slipped her boots into. The fur covered her soles, and she temporarily held her leg out to critique her work.
It was hardly a work of art, and her small body didn’t allow her to make the most precise cuts. A crude, rudimentary upgrade best described her fluffy boots and to her surprise…
[Appraise Object].
Vengeful Boots (+Soft Cave Wolf Pelt)
ORIGIN : Hatchling Red
ATTRIBUTE : Wrath
TYPE : Apparel
ATT DEF : 15
This brought her ATT DEF to a total of 47.
Hatchling Red
ATT DEF : 32 (+15)
It was not nearly enough to completely negate an attack from the Cave Wolves, but it certainly helped. She had practically halved their damage already! But she wondered if this additional defensive stat applied to the entire part of her body or just her legs.
Her curiosity drove her to test this with the length of her blade.
She made a small incision at her fingertip.
Hatchling Red | HP: 365
It did not deal as much damage as the stats led her to believe. Then it hit her.
Does that mean this is the maximum possible damage it can inflict? That makes more sense now. Wait, weird text! Does the defense apply to my entire body?
< Defensive Stats >
< Explicitly defines the total resistance of a given entity against physical or magical attacks. All damage inflicted against a higher DEF opponent becomes 1 >
So does that mean it protects my entire body or what!?
Hatchling Red was close to blurting this out loud as she stood herself up, wobbling immediately due to the bumpy texture of her sole. She waddled like a penguin, grasping at nearby pillars of stone like a newborn fawn.
The largest downside of these silent shoes was stability, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t learn to adapt to. On the same vein of her boots, she wondered if her apparel gave her any benefits to begin with.
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Supporting herself along the wall, she analyzed her clothes, and to her surprise –
Colorless Huntress’ Garbs
< Finely tailored to hunt the biggest and baddest of villains >
ATT DEF : 32
MAG DEF : 15
– It had the exact same stats as her own DEF stats, but it didn’t add up for some weird reason. The longer she pondered on this, the more her stomach started to rumble. Thinking was a tiring effort for something like her who had as many brain cells as fingers, not that she really knew what brain cells were.
She just knew the term.
Or something like that.
It must be connected to me, right? If it can regenerate, then is this like my own skin?
It was the only logical conclusion she could come up with. Removing it would therefore likely remove her DEF stats entirely. She peered around the corner, ensuring there were no wolves in sight and undressed.
Hatchling Red
ATT DEF : 0
MAG DEF : 0
Whaaaat? This really is my skin! What the – so I’m not allowed to take it off? Does this ‘grow’ with me too? I don’t get it.
She lumped backwards, covering herself with the bundle of red, white and black clump of fabric as she held back a frustrated sigh. To begin with, how does a boot protect someone from a slash against the chest or back? How did that make any sense?
The longer she let this train of thought chug around in circles in her mind, the more she felt like punching something.
Eventually, she redressed and began to wander around the tunnel that led into the wolf-infested cavern. Dozens of wolves could not be taken out in an honorable fight to the death, so she mapped out her surroundings for the best choke point available.
Everything was too wide, and it wasn’t like she could prepare spike traps with no access to sticks at hand. The rocks were too large to utilize as well. She thoroughly investigated various avenues and came to the realization that these tunnels were devoid of all wolves.
That large cavern seemed to be where they either originated from or was the beginning of a much larger wolf den. Eventually, she arrived at a sudden, unexpected descent similar to the one she fell into earlier.
This is prime trapping grounds. You’re telling me trees don’t grow underground!?
< Deeproot Trees >
< Native to the Anid and Gnawer Region >
What’s that?
< Anid Region >
< Region of the Anids. Permanent winter and snow >
< Gnawer Region >
< Region of the Insectids. Permanent war of billions of humanoid insects >
It was mostly useless information, but a part of her became giddy when she learned a little more of the world outside. Although, the thought of humanoid insects disgusted her more than she was willing to admit. It caused goosebumps to form, and her eyes to darken as she shivered at what those things must have looked like.
< Insectid Appearance >
< Multiple limbed – >
Nuh uh. Stop! Get the prompts away!
She punched at the air, as if expecting to break the prompt.
However, and much to her shock, her hand connected with something.
It was like a string. Sticky, and nearly invisible.
What she struck was a web.
And in that moment, as she stared deep into the caverns ahead, the blue light of the glowworms had become much duller. Eventually, she heard clicking. A wet, disgusting churning that caused her to investigate a strange, rocky mound…
… and that mound sprouted six legs and two giant scissor-like mandibles.
LEVEL : 5
Rock Bug
ORIGIN : Insect HP : 600
ATT : 75
MAG ATT : 0 AGI : 5