CHAPTER 92 - HIVE-FIVE AND EXO-PLODE WITH LAUGHTER AT THE CATBOY (IT'S IN THE AUTHOR NOTES)

🙞❤︎🙜

Every time a player went up and down a ladder in the mines in Adventure Incarnate, the levels were reset, and new rocks emerged to block their path again. I believe this was explained in-game by some non-player characters claiming that the place was haunted, or something.

Therefore, when I went back up after eating my lunch, I wasn’t surprised to see that the tunnel that I had cleared was now full of rocks again. This was hardly a bad thing, since it meant that it was easier for me to level up. I set to my task with a will, crushing every single rock that I saw until I received a welcome notification message from the System.

[Congratulations, you just advanced a Mining level!]

[Your Mining level is now 2.]

That was great. Now it only took five swings of my pickaxe to mine a rock.

Mr. Bear and I killed a few more [Rock Beetles], and I was once again startled when a rock turned out to be another mimic. It seemed their camouflage skill was so good that there really was no way of distinguishing them from a regular rock. This time, I was knocked off my feet, and I killed it quickly by slashing at its tentacles.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted, but I still hadn’t leveled up my Attack.

“Ugh, time for a bath, Mr. Bear. We’re both dirty!” I had only been alone for a day, and I was already wondering if I could somehow program my puppet to say a few lines of dialogue.

Would it be good to have Mr. Bear say a few encouraging sentences like, “You’re doing great!” or “You’re the best!” sometimes?

Back at level 10, I put away the tent to clear some space and placed a shower for me and Mr. Bear to use. I was so sweaty and dusty from mining and fighting all day that it was a relief to stay under the spray of hot water and use soap and shampoo to cleanse myself and my puppet. When I was done, I used a hairdryer on my hair and Mr. Bear.

“I’m happy I have a nice plushie to cuddle with and protect me,” I whispered into Mr. Bear’s pink ear.

I barely had enough energy to eat dinner before collapsing into a sleeping bag and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

***

The next three days followed the same routine. I went down to level 11 to mine and fight mobs. I got two more mining levels and one more attack level.

[Player Name: Violet

Farming Skills:

Farming Level 19, Fishing Level 12, Woodcutting Level 19, Cooking Level 5, Herblaw Level 15, Foraging Level 6, Hunting Level 3, Mining Level 4]

Now I was able to clear a rock in three swings. As for the [Rock Beetles] and [Rock Mimics], by the end of the third day, I was able to kill them with one [Slash], meaning it was now time for me to go deeper into the mines.

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[Violet

Level 1

HP: 100/100

MP: 35/35

Strength: 1/99

Attack: 3/99

Archery: 3/99

Magic: 3/99]

I packed up all my stuff and made nine [Staircases]. It was actually pretty fun to place them on the ground, run down the steps, then place another right away until I reached level 20.

This time, the safe spot was larger and lit with magical glowing rocks. Unfortunately, the light they cast was a creepy green color, giving the place an eerie atmosphere and making me look sickly the one time I dared to look at myself in a mirror.

Still, the extra space was nice indeed. I had room for the tent, outhouse, and shower, so I wouldn’t have to keep removing the tent to make space for the other facilities I needed.

I lost no time in exploring level 21. This deep into the mines, the magical nature of the place was starting to assert itself. The rough earthen walls were now dotted with glowing crystals and luminescent moss. The crystals had no use that I knew of, but I made sure to harvest a lot of the moss since it could be used for Herblaw. I had plenty of it, but, as usual, it was bound for my use. Besides, collecting moss gave me Foraging exp.

At this level, the monsters were tougher. I squealed in shock when the first [Cave Bug] attacked me.

[Cave Bug:

A species of venomous bug native to the Chitinous Caverns.]

The bug looked like a cockroach on top but had legs like a millipede. It flew up and tried to bite my arm but couldn’t penetrate my armor.

“Get away! Ahhh!”

I bashed it against the wall of the tunnel until it died.

[You have been poisoned.]

What? Even though it didn’t touch my skin? Maybe it had a poison breath or something. Grumbling to myself, I drank an [Antipoison Potion] and continued mining.

The next time a [Cave Bug] came buzzing by, I was quick enough to [Slash] at it with my sword. Sadly, this did not kill it, and this time it flew straight at my face. I managed to jump aside and block it with my arm. Swearing, I tried to pry it off my limb with my other hand, to no avail, so I had to hit my arm against the wall again.

I killed it, of course, but smashing my arm like that made it hurt.

“Maybe we should return to level 10?” I said to Mr. Bear. This level seemed annoying, not to mention painful, to explore. I turned back and walked towards the ladder down to level 20. “The bugs here are too clingy. I don’t like it.”

That was when it happened. I was halfway up the ladder when another [Cave Bug] appeared. I flinched, expecting it to latch onto me again. Instead, it crashed onto something invisible and was repelled back with a sudden jolt, as though it had hit a wall. It made two more attempts to attack me but was stopped by a barrier.

Oh my gosh! The ladder was a safe space? In Adventure Incarnate, when players clicked on a ladder there was no climbing animation. The screen just changed to the player at the top of the ladder on the higher level if they went up and vice versa if they went down.

I climbed down the ladder and slashed at the bug three times until it died.

What? So when I was at the bottom of a ladder, I couldn’t be attacked, but I could attack the monsters? This was an exploit! This was massive! I didn’t need to use my sword, I could stay at the ladder and shoot arrows or spells at the enemy while they were helpless to attack me.

My mind raced at the possibilities. How could I use this to my advantage in the most efficient way?

In order to level up my combat skills as fast as possible, I needed two things: lots of enemies attacking me at once, and a way to kill them faster. A good Area of Effect or AOE spell would be great to use, for example. Alas, my magic level was too low for that to be effective. The “lots of enemies” part wasn’t a problem since I knew many levels where there were tons of mobs.

What would GodIAm do if he found an exploit like this? Thinking of my old friend jogged a memory of us fighting together in the mines. There had been an update and we wanted to check out the new [Cavecrawlers] and their drops. The thing was, everyone had the same idea so the place was crowded.

I laughed like a cartoon villain when I remembered the chaos that ensued when GodIAm decided to annoy the other players by killing everything before they had a chance to. Yes… his solution would work for me now.

“Oh, Mr. Bear, we’re going to have so much fun!”

No more being bullied by insects trying to bite my arm or face off. It was time for my revenge and the massacre of the bugs.

Smiling, I headed up the ladder to gather my things. I could hardly wait to set my devious plan in motion. GodIAm would be so proud of me if he knew!