CHAPTER 97 - A BATTASTIC TRAINING AXERCISE

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That night, I went to sleep early and dreamed of a dragon child. The birds in the jungle seemed to have noticed my distress over the food shortage and kept on flying over and dropping seeds, nuts, and even fruit for us to eat. I felt like a Disney princess! In my dream, I napped under a tree with the child in my arms and woke up when he turned back into his dragon form and started licking my face.

I woke up for real and automatically wiped my face with my sleeve, but, of course, I didn’t actually have any dragon saliva on me since that was something that happened in my dream. Still, I somehow felt less lonely after spending the night with my imaginary friend.

The first thing I did after eating breakfast was check the hydroponic farm. The seeds that I had put in their pods had already sprouted. I checked the grow lights which were on automatic mode, and everything seemed to be working properly. The tanks didn’t need more [Plant Food] yet either.

As I wandered through the Western cave, checking on all the sprouts, I felt my mind clearing. It was as though cobwebs were being cleaned off the corners of my brain. Was it because this cave was supposed to be enchanted to “remove impurities”? Perhaps it was the enchantment in this place that had healed me of my minor mental breakdown. Or maybe it was just the placebo effect. Whatever it was, I felt a lot better today.

I felt even better when I went to the mushroom cave. Overnight, more mushrooms had sprouted, and I harvested tons of useful species that could be used in recipes that would boost stats. Potions mostly boosted combat while food boosted skills. In addition, there were some unique mushrooms that weren’t in my inventory. That was probably because my friend GodIAm hadn’t considered them useful since they didn’t raise any stats.

[Candy Milk-Cap:

Characterized by their sweet scent reminiscent of maple syrup or burnt caramel, this mushroom can be used to impart a sweet flavor and aroma to food. When cut, it exudes a milky liquid.]

Amazing! It actually did smell like candy.

[Meat Mushroom:

It looks like a mushroom, but it tastes like meat.]

The description of the [Meat Mushroom] made me smile. My mother had gone through a vegan phase and had extensively used mushrooms as a meat replacement. She would’ve loved this.

[Naughty Mushroom:

When dried and ground into a powder, this can be mixed into hot water and drunk to increase men’s stamina during XXX. Slightly increases fertility.]

I giggled a little when I read the description of the [Naughty Mushroom]. The part about fertility would no doubt make this popular among the clans.

Before I left, I checked the substrate to see if they were still moist. Everything seemed to be in order. I was a little bit disappointed that there were no changes to the mushroom-growing shelves yet.

I lingered at the entrance, looking back at the fairy-like place illuminated by glowing flower crystals and colorful mushrooms, ranging from bright reds and oranges to deep purples and blues. At times like these, I really wished that I had a camera.

Next, I did my warming-up exercises by jogging all around the cavern and doing some stretches. Then I checked my equipment. I had three slots that I could use to quickly switch from one combat style to another. I put on the [Lunarite Plate Armor] and the [Noise Canceling Headphones] under my helmet and descended the ladder down to the ninety-first level.

My stats were a bit too low for this level, but I should be able to cope.

[Violet

Level 32

HP: 3,200/3,200

MP: 35/35

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Strength: 1/99

Attack: 20/99

Archery: 32/99

Magic: 3/99]

Since I had upgraded my equipment, my melee Battle Ranking was much higher now.

[Violet

Level 32

HP: 3,200/3,200

BR: 125]

However, this was less than ideal since the monsters on this level were strong. Looking around me, I saw that I was in a spacious tunnel filled with around two dozen rocks that I could mine. No monsters were inside, so I took out my pickaxe and started mining after placing Mr. Bear on top of my head.

It didn’t take long before I heard the whomp-whomp sound of leathery wings.

Wait, I was wearing the [Noise Canceling Headphones]! How was I able to hear that?

I didn’t have time to think about it because the enemy came into sight a second later.

[Bat:

A flying monster that uses sonic attacks.]

Mr. Bear immediately hit it with a [Fireball] and I hastily switched to my archery equipment which consisted of [Hardened Leather Armor] vest, pants, and gloves. My weapon was a [Silverwood Longbow] that used [Luminite Arrows] which were made of [Silverwood Arrow Shafts] and [Luminite Arrowheads]. Luminite was simply steel alloyed with enchanted gold.

The bat’s mouth was open, and it was undoubtedly using its scream to deal damage, but my headphones took care of that.

[Bat:

Type: Ranged

Element: None

BR: 157]

Though its Battle Ranking was higher than mine, my equipment made its ranged attacks useless, so the advantage was all mine. With practiced ease, I drew my bow and shot it from across a distance of thirty feet, hitting it in the middle of its torso. I must have hit it in a vital part, like its heart or lungs, because it staggered in the air and then dropped to the ground, weakly twitching and flapping its wings for a few seconds before dying.

I waited for a few moments to see if there were any other monsters, but when none appeared, I went back to mining. At this level of the Mine, I got quite a few gemstones and geodes along with the usual [Rocks]. I didn’t need any as I already had plenty, but obviously, I could sell these or give them to my apprentices to use in their crafting.

A few more [Bats] came to trouble me and were quickly dispatched. Sadly, the [Bat Wings] they dropped were useless except as organic matter that I could make into compost or fertilizer.

By noon time I could tell that, despite my fears of my stats being too low, this level was no challenge for me. Therefore, when I mined a rock and discovered the ladder down to level 92, I immediately used it.

And so it went for the next few days. I explored the lower levels and found that I met my match on level 96.

“Oh, Mr. Bear, I think we might be in trouble!”

I stayed in the safe space directly below the ladder and placed a hand on my chest, my heart beating wildly, as I gazed out into the open space that was full of [Arachneans].

Thank goodness I didn’t suffer from arachnophobia, or I would probably run away screaming.

[Arachnean:

A giant spider species native to the Chitinous Caverns. Their Venomous Rain attack deals poison damage over time.]

I quickly drank an Antipoison Potion, and set up the [Potato Cannon] as quickly as I could. Since I didn’t want to run out to the middle of the cavern and be sprayed with poison, I put the cannon on the square directly in front of the ladder.

[Arachnean:

Type: Magic

Element: None

BR: 183]

The first [Lightning Tuber] hit a spider's head, doing a little damage. While the cannon had done great damage to the [Cavecrawlers], the [Arachneans] were higher-level, therefore, the ammo was much less effective here. The cannon shot echoed in the Mine and the giant spiders, which were bright red and six feet tall, came rushing over to destroy the threat. I took the opportunity to shoot them with my arrows while they were attacking the cannon.

The monsters that I attacked were too smart to ignore my attacks and tried to use Venomous Rain on me, only to be stopped by the barrier that encircled the space directly in front of the ladder.

Since they were now quite close, I donned my melee armor and started bashing away at them with my [Lunarite Battle Axe], using [Slash], [Chop], and [Frenzy] as often as I could. The [Arachneans] were tough, but not tough enough to escape from my axe, Mr. Bear’s Fireball, and the [Potato Canon’s] explosive potatoes.

I was quite pleasantly surprised to know that I was getting quite a large amount of exp. Barely an hour later, I leveled up.

[Congratulations, you just advanced an Attack level!]

[Your Attack level is now 21.]

Invigorated by the amazing exp per hour rate, I continued to hack and slash at them until noon, when I paused for my usual lunch break. Then I resumed my attacks.

“I’m getting so much exp!” I said to Mr. Bear. “It seems that I’m going to escape from this place earlier than I thought.”

By the end of the day, I actually got two more Attack levels and one Archery level, and I was almost tempted to put a chair at the bottom of the ladder and sleep there in order to not waste time going up and down the five levels I had to travel to reach this training spot.

“No, much as I would like to, I think it would be best to have a good night's sleep.” Speaking out loud to my puppet wasn’t a sign of another mental breakdown. I mean, I’ve had that habit ever since I transmigrated into this world.

Whistling a happy tune, I retrieved my cannon and went back up to level 90. The Mines were enchanted in such a way that the ladders disappeared once a person used them to go up a level. Every time I went down, I had to either mine until a new ladder appeared or use a [Staircase]. The [Staircase] also disappeared when I used it to go up, but not when I went down a level.

Though I was getting a lot more exp than I expected, it still took me ten more days until I leveled up enough to be able to tackle the Boss.