'...'
'The sewers. Really. And it's pitch black. Fuck me sideways with a barge pole.'
Welcome To Floor Two Of The Flooded Toilet Dungeon!
'That was random... and just a welcome? surely there should be some information... Weird...' I dismiss the window, and walk over to the left hand (relative to my current direction) wall. Gagging slightly at the ever-present stench (although I had adapted slightly on floor one), I strain my eyes, hoping that there is just a large enough amount of light for my eyes to be able to make out something. Why? Because I have no fucking chance otherwise. 'Well, there's no light. Let's go with the old maze rule - stick to the left hand side. Oh well - lets just hope that the lovely, kind monsters on this floor ignore the random guy stumbling through the dark...' I slowly make my way forwards, trying my best - and failing - to keep silent. I continue gazing around, hoping to find some sort of light source - as, well, how will I ever clear a dungeon floor in this light level?
Deciding to try something - even though it may screw me over - I channel my newly-found mana into my palm, hoping that it structures itself to my needs. Of course it doesn't. Instead, I get some sort of extremely dim, translucent aura around my hand, which is presumably just mana leaking out of me. This seems especially so as I do not gain any notification for completing this action, which you'd expect to get if you created a spell. The blue glow is, sadly, still too dim to let me see any of my surroundings, and can only be seen itself, due to it's dimness. It would probably even be invisible in normal light.
Giving up on that idea, I continue straining my eyes and taking the left hand side. A few times, I go past slight turns, following the left wall, which may or may not be a split, as I stick to one wall only. After about 5 minutes of this sensory deprivation, a splashing sound echoes in the distance. At this, my head snaps towards the sound, and my mind panics - instinct taking over. I once again feel the flow of man in my body - this time instinctively going to my eyes. Within a second, the world begins to once again become visible, however now with an ethereal blue glow.
Congratulations! Skill Gained - Mana Vision
After spending extended periods of time in complete darkness, your racial ability of adaptation has kicked in. With the trigger of a distant sound, the instinct gained from your racial heritage allowed you to gain this skill.
Skill - Mana Vision
The skill of applying mana to your eyes to see the mana of the world around you. A coveted skill among mages, it has a range of uses - from seeing in all light levels, to seeing mana weaves.
Cost - 1MP/min
Can be toggled on or off
lvl 1 0.0%XP
'Finally, a skill I can use right now! Woot! I may actually survive on this goddamn floor.' luckily, I have the mana regen from mana absorption, or it would be unusable - as it is, my mana regen is still higher than the cost. With my new-found sight, I begin to survey the surrounding area. As I expected, I am in a sewer, obviously filled with shit, with smooth walls - it's hard to tell materials with mana vision. Looking in either direction, and the direction of the sound from before, there does not appear to be anything unusual. Ahead, there is a fork in the path, but I decide to stick with my plan of 'staying left' so I know where I came from.
I continue on, walking down the disgusting tunnels. There still appears to be no change in my surroundings, bar a slight curve in one direction or another, but I walk for at least another minute or two until something happens. A dull glow appears under the sewage, heading in my direction. Stopping and gripping my whip, I let it approach slightly - I can't really hit anything underwater with a whip from above water - non-compressability of fluids and all that. It continues approaching - at a leasurely pace even - until it reaches me. Backing away, I feel a sharp pain in my lower leg - much like a bite. Hissing through my teeth - and hoping to not get infected - I reach down and grab the creature from my leg, tearing away some skin in the process. It struggles in my grasp, but I manage to pull it to the surface. Of course, to fit with the sewer theme, it is a really oversized rat - about two foot in length, including the tail. I expend about a point of mana to heal the wound, before it gets infected. After all, it is under sewer water.
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'Mana Regrowth!'
'Identify!'
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 - (23/23hp)
The Monstrous Sewer Rat is a common sewer animal in most regions of Terrae. A very weak monster, they are only able to threaten any other species in large numbers, and instead feed on the the 'food' ever-present in all sewers.
+10%
'Sewer Slimes... now Sewer Rats... seriously, does this world want me to die out of disgust or something? These are probably the two most 'shitty' mobs that exist in this new world, so why do I have to get both of them!?!' Now, however, I am faced with a great dilemma. How am I supposed to use my whip on a creature that I'm holding? Do I just gather up half of it and whale on the mob until it dies? 'Bit cruel that though, even through it is just a common monster... Guess I have no choice...' I begin whaling on the rat, even though it struggles greatly while I hold it with only one arm. After about 10 hits, it dies, leaving behind a few drops.
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 Has Died
+150XP
Drops;
Monstrous Rat Tail x1
Large Sewer Rat Tooth x2
Rat Meat x1
Rat Hide x1
'So, rats drop more stuff than slimes. Good to know.' I continue on, gazing around with my mana vision. After passing a few more splits in the tunnel, I once again encounter another rat. About the same process occurs as for the last one, however this time I manage to avoid being bitten.
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 Has Died
+150XP
Drops;
Monstrous Rat Tail x1
Large Sewer Rat Tooth x1
Chipped Large Sewer Rat Tooth x1
Rat Hide x1
The next time I come across more rats, it is as a pair, of which I pick up one, start backing away from the other while whaling on the first, while using mana regrowth to keep myself at a high health level. Then, I pick up the second, and repeat the usual process. The drops are practically the same as what I have gotten before, however at the end of the fight this time, a strange chiming sound echoes through my head, and another window appears;
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 Has Died
+150XP
Drops;
Monstrous Rat Tail x1
Large Sewer Rat Tooth x2
Rat Meat x1
Rat Hide x1
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 Has Died
+150XP
Drops;
Monstrous Rat Tail x1
Chipped Large Sewer Rat Tooth x2
Rat Meat x1
Rat Hide x1
Congratulations! Skill - Identify Has Leveled Up!
A skill needed by most adventurers (and owned by all Earthlings), Inspect allows you to see the basic stats of items and monsters. Details depend on relative level of skill, user, and object.
No cost to use.
1 second cooldown.
Novice lvl 2 - 5.10%
*Detail of identified information increased
'Ha Ha!, finally! One of my skills leveled up!' Even though it's kinda sad that it technically took me ten hours to level up my identify skill - even if I was unconscious for 9 hours of that time. At least I got it done in the end.
After my moment of celebration, I once more begin slogging through the thick, sludgy water. The ritual of killing rats continues, and I soon encounter another six. However, each rat now only gives me 5% skill Xp per identification, so progress slows down in that area. There is also little to no new detail given about the species. The items I got from the rats were about as average as all the ones before them - no special drops at all.
Monstrous Sewer Rat - lvl 3 Has Died (x6)
+900XP
Drops;
Monstrous Rat Tail x6
Chipped Large Sewer Rat Tooth x7
Large Sewer Rat Tooth x5
Rat Meat x4
Rat Hide x5
Not long after finding and fighting the sixth rat, I notice that the water level seems to be dropping - or as the case will be the floor is rising. Continuing onwards, I soon reach what appears to be some sort of service tunnel - as the sewer sludge is funneled down a side pipe as the ground becomes dry. Unfortunately, the sewer seems completely blocked somewhere down-pipe, so the water is not flowing at all. Stepping onto the dry land, I survey the area with my Mana Vision. Looking at the right-hand-side wall, a tunnel opening is on the wall, which has much rougher edges than the slime tunnel. This tunnel is also wider, however. Down the tunnel, I can see a much brighter conglomeration of mana essences, presumably rats at the other end. I unconsciously approach the far side, and freeze in fear when I accidentally kick a loose rock, creating a clatter. As I do so, the mana essences at the far end of the tunnel stop their movements, and slowly begin to approach my location.
'Oh fuck... What have I done now...'