Congratulations! You have created a skill never seen before!

* Reward: Grand Thigh Highs of Perfect Balance

The hell?

I glanced in my inventory to see that I had a pair of women’s gold boots. Fortunately, they were not high-heeled, but they were a style I saw some of my ride-share customers wearing to clubs. Was this a joke?

I almost ignored them, but the last treasure I earned from the system was my favorite helmet; if this was an item that could help me right now, I needed to use it. I quickly scanned the information.

Grand Thigh Highs of Perfect Balance - Soulbound - Deep in the fires of the God’s Forge, a minor godly smith beautifully crafted this pair of boots as a gift to the Goddess Belinda. She liked these boots too, but felt that her favorite Elven tank needed the extra protection. They might even look good on him.

These stylish, size-changing boots allow the wearer to find footing and balance on anything larger than a pinhead. They cling to the owner like a second skin, feeling superbly comfortable. Where the leather touches the body, they protect from all slashing, acid, and poison damage.

Warning! These do not defend against bludgeoning or crushing-type damage.

Added Bonus: These super cute boots change colors to match your outfit!

This item is soulbound and cannot be transferred to another.

If Belinda thought I wouldn’t wear these because they would make me look silly, she must have never met a gamer from Earth. They didn’t give a shit what a magic item looked like as long as the stats were there. So, I equipped them. Surprisingly, they went under my padding and armor, making me feel like I pointlessly hesitated earlier. Now that I didn’t have to cover everything below my lower thighs, this significantly reduced the amount of aura I needed for Cover Body.

I also noticed that the slippery floor felt stable beneath my feet. This would make it much easier to strike.

That was enough time spent on protection. Now that I had D Destroyer, I could finally get out of this massive pink mushroom monster. I just hoped Murr found a way to stay alive out there. But part of me doubted it. I had been gone too long, and he was alone up there. He had likely been overwhelmed by monsters—

No! I couldn’t allow myself to think about his death before I saw his body! He was smart. Maybe he survived. Somehow.

Fuck.

With the increase in stomach juice, the air had more acidic particles. They burned my lungs, causing each breath to slightly hurt and moisture to gather at the corners of my eyes.

I focused on the wall in front of me. This area was slightly under the ground, so I’d need my aura-covered sword to slash a gentle slope upward. I used my D Destroyer to slice deep into the monster. Once my blade passed its aura, its flesh was soft and easy to cut.

Since this plant was as thick as a sequoia, I wouldn’t be able to just slip out after one or two hacks. I actually had to slice off portions to give myself room to maneuver. To do this, I took inspiration from the tree cutters from my past life and created a V-like slice. Once I was done, a section of the mushroom slid down into the acidic area.

Unfortunately, that was when its acid started to increase significantly. This must be a kind of immune response to getting injured internally. It had already reached past my groin to my waist. And that’s when my Cover Body gave out. My skin immediately began to burn.

“Ow!”

I pulled out more stamina potions and downed them before reactivating my shield. While the burn hurt, I wanted to save my healing potions for when I got out of here, chances were I’d need them. Besides, the pain was minor.

Once again, I started hacking, going as deep as I could and pulling out chunks of the almost foam-like mushroom flesh. I climbed into the small alcove I’d created. Now that I was out of the acid, I temporarily removed my armor and padding to clean them, which saved some of my aura. My new boots came in handy here, since they allowed my toes to cling to the slippery surface and remain perfectly stable. Even though these were obviously women’s boots, they were so comfortable and useful that I decided to make them part of my normal gear and just never tell anyone about them. Ever. Besides, my pants could hide them.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

After around twenty uses of D Destroyer, I finally hacked my way to the edge of the mushroom’s side and sliced a hole through to the outside. I sucked in a breath of fresh air before peering out of the small opening. The zombies that surrounded the mushroom were completely still. There was no sign of Murr anywhere.

Well. Shit.

For some reason, I remembered that the last thing I told Murr I was going to do was kill this mushroom to re-dead all the zombies. If one hole wasn’t going to kill this thing, then what if I sliced its whole mushroom head off?!

Wait... that sounded wrong.

I also didn’t think that was the best way to go about this. A creature like this probably had some kind of brain or core. It had to since it was smart enough to control all these zombies. And if I were a plant with a weak core, I would put it somewhere no one could get to easily. Its base... which meant that I’d dug in the wrong direction. Well, making a path out for myself wasn’t bad. Once I killed this thing, there was no telling if it would keep its structure. I might have to make a run for it. Considering that, I widened the exit, being careful to be quiet so that the undead didn’t become aware of my continued aliveness.

Once I’d prepared everything, I slid back down to the now chest-level acid, protecting myself with Cover Body before I splashed down.

This was going to suck, so I should do it fast. I briefly covered the rest of my body in aura, held my breath, and used D Destroyer to pierce down, through the acid into the mushroom’s base, then slash up and out. The glow of the mushroom blinked out for a brief second.

I was right!

I lifted my head above the acid and breathed. Then I coughed since there were a few acidic particles in the air that my helm and aura couldn’t filter out. At least not at my current level. However, the helmet prevented a majority of the acid from reaching my face and hair.

After breathing a bit more, despite the pain, I held my breath again and went back down.

I quickly hacked at the place that seemed to cause the mushroom to blink off the most. I stabbed and slashed at it until the whole massive monster turned completely dark. My dark vision was limited, but I could see the dark walls begin to deform as the shroom collapsed in on itself.

I darted to the hole I had made and pushed through the quickly rotting mushroom. When I’d gotten my torso outside, it had caved in enough to pin my legs down. With a quick twist of my wrist, I brought my blade down against the monster’s side using Thousand Will Do. After pulling a chunk away, I wiggled my lower body out and fell to the cavern floor right in front of a massive crab zombie.

For a brief moment, I thought I’d messed up. That I hadn’t taken care of the mushroom. There hadn’t been a system message, after all, and this zombie looked like it was still undead.

Then it collapsed. Actually, all the zombies collapsed like dominoes, with the giant mushroom being the first one.

Ding-a-ling-ya-dong!

Congratulations!

Through hardships unknown, and balls burned bare from bathing in acid — you have gone up a level! You have one attribute point to assign.

Did the system really have to go there?

Wow! You Did It! By reaching level 10 without taking a shortcut or using a codpiece, you completed the Hidden Quest: Balls of Copper! Amazingly, you didn’t even cry after getting hit!

To receive your rewards for this quest, first assign your attribute point.

Congratulations! From repeatedly getting burned by acid, you have developed an Ability! Minor Acid Resistance. Please review your character sheet for more information.

You have discovered the changes to Balrok Mine and overcome them! You and your party are the first ones to defeat Pink King Fungi, Master of Corpses. Your party members that earn experience will earn double Experience from this monster. You all will also receive rewards for being the first ones to defeat it.

Your reward: Gloves of Acid Resistance

Kron’s reward: Azure Mage’s Cape

Murr’s reward: Cold Fire Slingshot

Murr received a magic item… which meant that he wasn’t dead-dead!

I turned around and called his name. My now hoarse voice echoed through the enormous cavern.

While waiting for his response, I quickly unequipped my armor and padding, leaving me naked for a second before I re-equipped everything, with the acid now removed. Sadly, I could tell that it had already eaten through a portion of the padding and some of the metal. Then I downed a healing potion. My lungs, eyes, and throat immediately improved.

When I didn’t hear a response for a second, I thought he might be unconscious or somewhere unable to speak.

I briefly bit my lip. “Murr! Say something if you’re alive!”

“Woo! Sam! I leveled up! And I received an item! This is unreal!”

I turned around to see a piece of the wall become a pink-haired, catfolk rogue. With the blood on his face and tears in his leather armor, he looked like he’d taken one hell of a beating.

He grinned, ran up to me, and gave me a big side hug. “I thought you were dead!” Then he stepped back and frowned while looking at me up and down.

Thinking about the shit I’d just been through made me grimace. “I almost was. Actually, I thought you’d died-died!”

He smirked. “Remember when you said that my hair blended in with the mushrooms?”

I nodded.

“That gave me an idea. After you vanished down the mushroom’s mouth, I used a smoke shot to confuse the zombies, then hid in between some of the larger mushrooms. Apparently, I’d blended in so well for so long that my Stealth Aura upgraded to Camouflage, a rank H skill!” He puffed out his chest, which made him look like a proud cat. “I can now use my aura to blend in with my environment.”

“That’s amazing!”

“But what happened to you? The armor we just bought you looks terrible. Well, aside from your helmet.”

Two strangers walked into the cavern from the only entrance. “We’d like to know too.”

Kron stepped out from behind them and awkwardly waved.