CHAPTER 91 - THE UN-BEETLE-ABLE VIOLET

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I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed, even though I had slept on a sleeping bag that offered scant protection from the cold, hard tiles that made up the floor of this level.

My wound had healed overnight and didn’t even leave a scar. That was a welcome development, but it was also exceedingly strange. When had I gotten an enhanced healing skill? Was it because a player’s health bar always refilled the next day?

I banished these thoughts from my head and concentrated on my current predicament.

Since I would be spending a lot of time here, I decided to spruce up the place a bit. I hung fairy lights all over the walls and put tiki torches in the corners. The lights definitely made the place look a lot more cheerful. Unfortunately, the room was too small for me to place an actual house, so I just added a colorful tent to serve as my bedroom. Then, seeing as I was in the Southerlands, I added a red terracotta statue of the Vermilion Bird.

Perhaps it will bring me luck.

Normally, one could only place decorations and such around one’s farm, but the safe levels in the mines were special since they had been built by the Vermilion Bird clan as a public shelter, which meant that I, and anyone else who came here, had permission to make myself at home.

I would do just fine here. I was even able to place an outhouse.

The only thing weighing on my mind right now was the state of my household. Though I tried not to dwell on it, I was a little worried about my apprentices. They must be frantic by now. However, I knew that Shuye would take care of them while I was away. In addition, Fengying and Deming were on vacation, but they would undoubtedly return to take charge of my household while I was gone. My housekeeper and I had recently gone over the books, therefore, I knew that we had plenty of money.

Farm hands were meant to stay on the farm to tend to the crops and livestock, and I was sure that they would do a good job. Right now, it was wintertime, so all they had to do was to feed and water the [Lizardwings] and keep an eye on the newly planted trees.

They would probably be perfectly fine without me. Right?

After a simple breakfast of hot tea and buttered toast, I added [Spell Stones] to Mr. Bear’s inventory for him to use when casting [Fireball] and then I went down the ladder to level 11.

Though Archery was my highest level combat skill, I felt that it would be the most difficult one to use in close quarters. Thus, I wore my [Iron Plate Armor] and had my [Iron Sword] placed in the first slot of my inventory in case I needed to fight.

The upper levels of the mine were very ordinary and had weak monsters, mostly bugs. As the player descended, the levels became more and more magical, and the environment flashier. Of course, the enemies also became stronger.

The tunnel I was in looked like a very ordinary mine with earth and rock walls and an uneven floor. The place was quiet except for the distant sound of buzzing insects and the slow dripping of water. Unlike most other games, the underground levels in Adventure Incarnate were often unlit, and one had to carry or equip a light source. Though this was fine in the game, walking through complete darkness with only the weak light cast by my [Halo Ring] in real life was definitely nerve-wracking.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

At first, I put Mr. Bear in front of me, then changed my mind and walked in front of him. It would be better to have someone guarding my back.

I had only walked ten steps before my way was blocked by a huge boulder. The Adventure Incarnate graphics depicted the rocks as merely ankle height. However, the fact that the player character couldn’t just step over them indicated that this was just artistic license. I suppose I could climb over it, since it was only around six feet tall and there was a bit of space above it that I could use, but that seemed more dangerous than just using my pickaxe on it.

Once again, it took me six swings to reduce the rock to rubble. I paid close attention to my energy bar, and, thankfully, it seemed that each swing only consumed a miniscule amount of energy. For my troubles, two pieces of [Stone] were added to my inventory.

I kept my eyes peeled for enemy movement, but there was nothing as I walked further into the tunnel and mined three more rocks. Though I’d barely done anything, I felt more relaxed as nothing attacked me from the shadows. I suppose there were fewer bugs here in the upper levels. It wasn’t until I was 30 feet from the ladder that I encountered my first monster.

[Rock Beetle:

An insect with a hard shell that deflects attacks.]

Good! I was very close to leveling up.

The beetle was the size of a dog, around knee-high, and had a glossy black exoskeleton. Its six legs looked thin and weak, but its mouthparts had large, scary-looking mandibles. When it came flying up to my face, I quickly used [Slash] followed by [Thrust]. Mr. Bear, as reliable as ever, hit it with his [Fireball]. Our three attacks were enough to kill it, and I was overjoyed when I leveled up my attack skill.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Attack level!]

[Your Attack level is now 2.]

When in melee combat, a player could choose either an Attack or Strength setting. Attack increased the player’s melee accuracy, while Strength increased damage dealt. I was using the Attack setting since I wanted to get level 10 Attack as soon as possible in order to wield better weapons than the [Iron Sword].

I looked at my stats and sighed. I still had a long way to go.

[Violet

Level 1

HP: 100/100

MP: 35/35

Strength: 1/99

Attack: 2/99

Archery: 3/99

Magic: 3/99]

I mined a few more rocks before I came across another [Rock Beetle]. Once more, I only needed to use [Slash] and [Thrust] to kill it.

“Well, that was easy!” I said to myself and Mr. Bear.

The first few levels of the mines were for newbies, which is why there were only easy mobs in them. I continued mining and killed three more [Rock Beetles] quite easily and without so much as a scratch. Everything was going so smoothly that I became careless. The tunnel came to a bend, and I was sent flying when the seemingly ordinary rock that I was mining turned out to be a monster.

“Ow!” I exclaimed when I landed on my butt. It hurt a lot, but there was no time to moan about it, since the enemy was almost upon me.

[Rock Mimic:

A cave dweller with a strong camouflage skill. It blends with its environment and appears to be an ordinary rock when at rest. Not aggressive unless it is attacked.]

Mr. Bear moved in front of me and puffed up until he was big enough to protect me from the mimic, which looked like a big rock with pink, slimy tentacles under it.

I scrambled to my feet and used [Slash], but its hard, rock-like body deflected my attack, and I did no damage.

Ugh!

The [Rock Mimic] drew back a little then charged at me, hitting my iron-clad legs with a loud clanging sound. I [Thrust] downwards with my weapon, but the tip of my sword just slid off its body. To my surprise, even Mr. Bear’s [Fireball] bounced off it.

So the rock part of its body was near invulnerable. What about its tentacles, then?

I crouched down and swung at its tentacles. My [Iron Sword] cut through its soft limbs like a hot knife through butter. Two more swings, which covered my blade with green blood, and it fell down the ground, dead.

“Oh my, that was intense,” I said to Mr. Bear.

My puppet deflated to his normal size.

I stood up slowly, armor creaking, and placed a hand on the wall for balance as I panted heavily. My heart was pounding like crazy. I gave myself a few minutes to calm down before going back to mine.

The next time I found a rock, I examined it closely to check if it was a mimic. It looked normal, and I heaved a sigh of relief when I was able to mine it with no problem. I continued to mine and kill more [Rock Beetles] until noon, when I scaled the ladder up to level 10 to have lunch.