CHAPTER THIRTY

GRINDING BEGINS

[Would you like to learn Spellforging?]

[Aceept | Decline]

Shai stared at the notification for the third time and let out a hiss. You know, I do, Grandpa... It's just that my skill slots are limited...

Sighing inwardly, she turned her attention back to the pit... It had taken a great deal of work, but the trappings were almost complete.

Most of the necessary scripts were working, from menacing jagged stone splinters adorned with augmentation and sharpening scripts to the illusionary concealment script formation that hid the pit completely from above.

For her safety, she disabled a few of the concealed traps like the web shooter from the wall and stored them in her inventory. It would be a nasty surprise if she got herself captured in the middle of a fight. Those corrupted creatures certainly wouldn't give her time to free herself.

She also found a few illumination constructs, capable of temporarily blinding creatures residing in darkness. Shai had checked (accidentally), and the effect was surprisingly blinding. Her task mostly revolved around disabling traps and disconnecting impaired scripts from the core formation. It might sound effortless to the ears, which it was compared to creating all the formations, but it certainly wasn't easy.

Shai had to work for hours, second-guessing and checking their functionality and then finally erasing their connection. Not having arms, she had to use her head and fang, which seriously was more taxing than she ever imagined. It was akin to using a hammer to swat a fly.

Well, her skills improved throughout the process, which was a plus.

Whoever created the formation didn't want to kill the creatures instantly. No, the traps were only there to give an advantage. Then again whoever was the creator of them didn't need to hunt down copper-rank creatures to level up. Their expertise in making these constructs spoke volumes of their talent and power.

The creatures Shai had hunted were completely dull in mind, and only knew the language of violence. Well, being born stupid wasn't their fault, nor was falling prey to corruption, if she thought deeply about it. It was the combination of their inherent stupidity and a hostile environment that led them down this path. But Shai could do nothing about it.

She wasn't even a real doctor, as her sister would say, much less a healer, who could cleanse the taint that could deteriorate one's cognitive capabilities, turning one into mindless killers.

For a final touch, Shai even hung several pounds of purified flesh from spider silk over the concealed pits, allowing them to dangle from the ceiling.

After sacrificing precious time from her sleep and meditation, Shai was done settling everything down. She finally let herself relax in one small crevice on the wall. Her muscles ached with familiar soreness, gradually dulling after the taxing work. Hunger once again gnawed at her stomach. Some water would soothe her parched throat, but frankly, she wouldn't even object to drinking blood in this instance.

Thankfully, she had some water stored within her inventory. Thank god, she couldn't expel all the contents in her terrible attempt to fall save into the pit. Finished dining, Shai refrained from resting at first. Instead, she started meditating to recover her lost energy. She needed to be prepared for a fight.

Don't get too worked up, Shai reminded herself. The traps were merely set up. It would take hours for prey to fall into it. Now all I need to do is wait for the fish to take the bait.

System Grandpa didn't wake Shai out of her meditative state, as she had muted most notifications just by willing it. However, after several hours when she awoke from her sleep, she found something changed in her. Intuitively, she was aware she had levelled up more than once.

Shai accessed her [System Log] to find several notifications.

[Your traps have killed a Twisted Chilopod Lvl 13.]

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Your traps have killed a Twisted Chilopod Lvl 19.]

[Your traps have killed a Twisted Lice Lvl 7.]

[...]

...

[Your traps have killed a Twisted Basilisk Lvl 23.]

[As you're not the original creator of the traps, a large portion of the essence is confiscated.]

[You have achieved a small breakthrough. Your path has grown to Favoured Hatchling Lvl 14. +1 to all Primary Attributes, +1 Unallocated Point.]

[You have achieved a small breakthrough. Your path has grown to Favoured Hatchling Lvl 15. +1 to all Primary Attributes, +1 Unallocated Point.]

Now we're talkin', Shai hissed in delight. it took the lives of forty-seven creatures for her to level up twice. Perhaps she could have gotten more levels if her essence wasn't confiscated. Well, Shai wasn't complaining. Who could have imagined these creatures would come in running to their death just smelling a few dozen pounds of flesh?

These twisted creatures couldn't resist throwing themselves into the trap for a few measly scraps of flesh. Moreover, there were still a few higher-levelled creatures in the pit, alive even after the two hundred metres fall.

I should have considered this beforehand, she chided herself.

Surviving the full two hundred metres depth of the pit wasn't something all creatures could accomplish. Those that survived were the strongest among the tainted creatures, like copper rankers--exactly the prey Shai needed to hunt. Hopefully, the fall had wounded them enough to make it easier for her.

She could only hope that no stray spiders would wander in this direction and stumble into the trap. Although the number of spiders in this region of the dungeon was quite scarce, as the tainted creatures had mostly taken over, there were still plenty of dimwits among the arachnids, especially among the males.

[Your traps have killed a Twisted Weaver Lvl 9]

Shit! Did I jinx it too early?

Shai couldn't help but wonder how the spider mama would react if she discovered that Shai had inadvertently killed one of their partially deranged kin. Granted, she had placed a warning sign for the spiders, but she wasn't sure if these crazed arachnids could even comprehend it. The females possessed enough intelligence to understand, but Shai held little hope for the insane males. The spiders had other important intruders to deal with, so perhaps Shai would escape unscathed this time.

What puzzled Shai was why these sentient empathic spiders still resided in such a place. Considering the intricate complexity of this dungeon, she was certain it wasn't your average, low-level, run-of-the-mill labyrinth. Serenity had mentioned something about being the guardian of the gate, which likely explained why the spiders still inhabited this taint-infested territory.

What's so important about the gate that they would endanger their whole kind?

While the Concept of Empathy might grant them a resilient mental fortitude, Shai questioned how long those young ones could endure the overwhelming taint. Keeping thousands of baby spiders in this environment had to be the worst choice imaginable.

Let's just hope I gain my mark and a few more levels before the spider mama comes after me, she mused.

And it's not like it was completely her fault. That particular spider was stupid and incompetent, to begin with. It literally had webs and could scale the walls easily with those nasty-looking legs. It could have easily taken her bait and left, but nah, I'm a big baddy spider, Imma jump into a concealed pit, even if I can climb down slowly.

It could have saved itself by shooting a web into the walls. Perhaps the madness had consumed its head completely, dulling even its basic instinct.

It was an act of mercy to eliminate these tainted creatures rather than leave them trapped in their insanity, consumed by greed and contamination. Shai had her justifications.

But the more Shai thought about the dumb spider, the more annoyed she got, and with annoyance, she became murdery.

Thankfully, she had her target set in the pit.

The traps had successfully dispatched giant centipedes, lizards, lice, badgers, and a spider. By the time Shai descended into the pit through the hole, her eyes were burning with fury. The pit spanned only about a few dozen square metres, lined with jagged elongated splinters on both the ground and the walls. Most creatures fell prey to the fall, and the rest were from the jagged stone spikes.

Several lifeless bodies were skewered on the spikes, a couple on the brink of death, while the majority lay motionless. Dead.

However, what captured Shai's attention and ignited her fury were the two robust copper-ranked creatures that had managed to survive. Two centipedes, their thick carapace saved them from getting mortally wounded from the fall. No, they didn't bore the wounds of the fall at all.

Currently, they were engaged in a heated dispute over her prize, feasting upon all the other corpses as if they had been starving for months. Moreover, they didn't seem to have fallen prey to the concealment formation, which lay open, currently. Shai's eyes blazed with indignation at the sight.

You motherless morons! she screamed inwardly. How dare you take my stuff?

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