The nestlings eventually woke up from their slumber and stared at me, waiting for a command. Their bodies bore signs of their hard work from our training sessions and each one looked much stronger than before.
It had been a full day since I entrusted my guards with their training and their progress was steadily increasing.
In the skilful hands of my female guard, some had acquired the [Leap] skill, while only a few of them acquired [Buoyancy]. [Floating Ribs] was proving far more elusive as earning it required a certain accuracy and deftness of movement that many of the nestlings were still lacking.
I myself also only managed to gain [Leap: LV1] and [Buoyancy: LV1].
On the other side, my male guard's student's were progressing smoothly. There wasn't much difficulty in terms of learning, as all they had to do was fall repeatedly.
His batch of the troops had already gotten [Rugged Scales] and [Steel Skin] which helped cushion their bodies from repeated falls while learning how to glide. Following them, I also gained [Rugged Scales: LV1] and [Steel Skin: LV1] while my [Pain Resistance] and [Impact Resistance] rose up to LV3.
I didn't want to leave the nestlings alone right now, not when they were so close to a breakthrough. If I could push them a little further, I was sure they would gain all the skills I needed to end the quest.
And Sensei was quick to sense my hesitation.
«A small rendezvous won't affect their progress. You can bring them along to strengthen their [Poison Resistance] too.»
An outdoor trip, how generous of him. But should I really take them?
There was no guarantee they wouldn't be a hindrance in the face of a strong enemy. I didn't want to have to choose between saving them and having to flee.
So I decided not to take them.
Looking at my two guards I issued the command to commence their training and all the nestlings left my side. The sleeping clingy one was dragged away by my male guard, who didn't listen to any of its hissing protests.
The new quest didn't sound too challenging, and I was sure I could do it alone.
Improving my poison resistance could be done through either of three ways.
The first. I could eat a toxic creature and hope i'm lucky enough to get the skill [Poison Resistance] with my [Devour]. This method would be quick, but it would not be easy. The creature I had to devour should be a high level monster, and not something I could easily take on.
The second. I could hunt enough weak monsters to add up to a 100 experience points and then simply purchase the skill in store. It would be efficient and the skills from the store were of the finest quality from our evil overlord Sensei himself, so they were the very best. But, it was time consuming.
Killing a lot of monsters was both risky and inefficient. If I wanted to do this safely I'd have to grind a lot of weak monsters. And what kind of monsters were classified as weak? A bug?
Those rabbits were weak, but they had been difficult to kill, and yet they only gave around 5XP each. If each bug was worth 1XP, I'd have to kill a hundred! It would take days to get 100 points!
I could always target a dumb monster like the bison again. But would it die fast enough for me to claim the XP for the kill. It was highly unlikely. I would just be feeding the birds and wolves again.
Ugh. It still made me mad how my kill was stolen!
And the last option was to go the smart route. In movies and books, people always gained resistance to poisons by eating poisonous things. If I found enough poisonous plants and ate them, wouldn't I gain a natural resistance? It was a decent idea.
It was an easy and safe method. Although there was a chance of dying through over poisoning, albeit a very small one.
Well, I wasn't being over cautious for no reason. Some foods were not meant to be consumed by humans in high quantities, so it was safe to assume the same applies to snakes. Even though I wasn't knowledgeable enough of what snakes could and couldn't consume!
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Eating in moderation was the key to gaining a resistance to the substance before its quantity was poisonous enough to kill. But, I didn't know the limits of this new body.
What if I ate something that caused an adverse reaction right away!
Ah. Why didn't I consider that? Could a snake even get food poisoning?
That, I wasn't sure of but the third option was the most attractive one so far. Foraging was a good way to explore the dungeon and if I was lucky I might even find other edible fruits!
Memories of all the delicious fruits littered my mind. The softness of peaches, the mild sweetness of apricots, the crisp freshness of grapes! How exciting. I wondered what sort of exotic flavours I would find in this world.
I really missed the taste of sweets. Since I was born I only consumed tasteless raw meat.
I wasn't picking this route just for food though. It was genuinely the best option!
I could forage for fruits at the same time as looking for poisons, accomplishing two tasks at once. Some fruit seeds were even naturally poisonous!
Poisonous things were typically stuff like mushrooms and plants. How hard could finding them be?
A task like this would need a map to pinpoint the location of those plants and I wondered if the store had anything like that.
I pulled up the menu and all the available skills were displayed before me.
I looked at the list and saw there was a new skill as well as an additional menu for items.
Skills: [Dragon Scales: 250XP] [Poison Resistance: 100XP] [Mark: 100XP]
Items: [Labyrinth Atlas: 300XP] [Dimensional Box: 350XP] [HP Recovery Potion: 50XP]
Three additional items and one extra skill. I was amazed.
Nice one Sensei! I totally misjudged you. You were actually looking out for my best interests all this time!
But the prices displayed made my fondness grow cold. The compliment I was about to give him dying on my lips.
So expensive! How mean could he get!
"300XP for a map? You shameless system! This is daylight robbery! I don't even have dragon scales yet!"
«Work hard. I am cheering for you.» Sensei's replied in his droll voice.
"Is that all you have to say? This pricing is too outrageous!"
«My store items are all reasonably priced for their worth. It's not my fault you have no XP to exchange.»
Tch. With only [7] experience points, there was no way I was getting that map today. What a stingy person.
«Here I thought you would be happy I added the extra items you requested.»
What use was my happiness when I couldn't get any of them! To see them, knowing they were out of reach was torture. I was sure Sensei was secretly mocking me.
Still, the skills and items got me curious so I appraised each one, starting with the ones I was most curious about.
[Mark] - Allows the bearer to trace the location of anything containing their essence.
[Poison Resistance] - Provides immunity to low level toxins. Subsequent level increments enhances the bearer's tolerance.
[Dragon Scales] - Harden's the bearer's body to repel attacks. Subsequent level increments enhances the bearer's tolerance and pain resistance.
[Labyrinth Atlas] - Map showing the upper stratum of the Great Ailith Labyrinth.
[Dimensional Box] - Small pocket dimension 10 cubic metres in size. It can't store living things.
[HP Recovery Potion] - Low Level health recovery potion. Once used, will refill 25% of the existing health bar. It does not negate the effects of stamina loss or mana.
The results of appraising the items and skills were interesting which made me more curious for the things I didn't know. Specifically the meanings of titles like Apostle, Coldblooded and Commander so I appraised them too.
[Apostle] - Agents chosen by the gods. Keepers of this title will receive access to the [Rebirth System] with status conditions reflective of their unique skill.
[Coldblooded] - Reduces feelings of guilt in the bearer.
[Commander] - Grants the bearer sovereignty over the lives of those under its command.
The results were not surprising but they did make me think. I didn't felt any different after acquiring the title [Coldblooded]. So, to think I was unconsciously reacting to things in an unfeeling way was scary.
I still felt like myself and my thoughts and actions were the normal things I would do but I didn't feel comfortable. If I continued gaining titles like that, would there come a day when my character morphed into something completely unrecognisable to myself?
It was terrifying to think about.
I watched the nestlings as they continued climbing the wall and sighed. What was I thinking? As long as I had my memories, I was me. There was no title or status effect that could overwrite a person's basic character. It didn't matter if I was a so called 'Apostle of the gods', I was still Aurelia.
I bitterly shook off my worries and proceed to leave the nest.
I expertly climb up the walls, astonishing the watching nestlings who still couldn't climb up completely without falling. Just as I'm about to reach the top, I see two nestlings chasing after me.
My two guards.
Hmm… was this alright?
I was tempted to take them along. It was just a quest for gathering plants, it shouldn't be too difficult right.
Well, lets see if they can climb the walls first. I was curious to know if they could actually make it out by themselves.
I watched them from the top and to my surprise they were able to climb up past the dangerous slope of the wall and actually come out without falling once. I was shocked and amused.
If you could come out all this time, why wait to do so until now!
And then I looked at my male guard in disbelief. If he could climb so well, why the heck did he keep falling down earlier!
The two were so eager to come with me but I refused them.
This was an exploratory quest. I was mostly going to be wandering about, this was much easier to do so when you were alone.
I command them to return to the nest and wait. Someone had to stay behind to keep the nest in order and I trusted these two. I instructed them to keep training the nestlings and wait for my return.
There was strong reluctance written all over their faces but they could only turn back and resume the climb down. As their leader, my command was absolute.
[Quest: Train Nest Mates. [Time Remaining: 192 Hours]]