Chapter 16: Going for a quick delve

The cave isn’t as dark as I thought. After having walked in a couple dozen meters, glowing moss begins to grow on the cavern walls.

Reminding myself that I can use Identify on inanimate objects too, I use it on the moss.

Valeroal moss (J)

Valeroal moss is commonly found in the first trek of the Depths. It lights the way for those who are brave enough to descend into the World Below, or for the ones daring enough to rise from it.

That’s not ominous at all. What is the first trek of the Depths called anyway? And more importantly, where does the first trek end? Considering that this planet is the size of the Milky Way, there’s a lot of space underground. Perhaps enough for there to be thousands of treks if not more. I guess it all depends on the average length.

The core of this planet might be far hotter too, though I won’t be finding that out any time soon if at all. I should put it on my bucket list to find the end of the Depths. With how big everything is, there might be an infinite number of things below my feet, maybe even a slumbering god of wrath.

The cave leads downwards at a steady slope with the occasional turn, forcing me to be careful since monsters may lay in wait after each corner.

I continue moving further into the belly of this world, finding it strange that I haven’t encountered anything yet. With how many of those monsters were from the so-called Depths, it’s weird that this cave is so desolate. The Valeroal moss that lights the way has a few spots where it doesn’t grow, creating pockets of darkness where monsters might have set up an ambush.

Maybe there are (J) grades that eat it, with the moss belonging to the same rarity. I also want to see a being that belongs to that grade to get a clearer picture of how the system works and defines itself. I had a bad time in (I) grade and I don’t want to even to think about being spawned into this world at an even lower grade. That would be truly miserable, especially with (J) grades even more rare with me not having found a single one in the forest.

What type of monster would even be categorised as that grade? Maybe some weak insects and tadpoles that barely have system access?

A weird sound like a suction cup pulling loose echoes throughout the cave as I pass yet another spot of darkness. Instead of whirling around and searching for something that might be sneaking up on me, I hurry towards the nearest patch of glowing moss, forcing the creature into the light if it wants a piece of me.

I wait for something to happen, my eyes darting from the cave in front of me to what lies behind my back.

A bulbous eye on an eyestalk pokes out of the darkness first. I claw my hands in a warning, showing off how sharp each finger is. A second slimy eye joins the first, peeking at me from the darkness as it moves towards me and more of its form is revealed.

No fucking way. It’s an evolved version of those weird snails? This can’t be the threat Sairal was talking about. These things almost seem to be cosmically weird. Never have I thought that one of those snails can be so scary. But here I am, facing some weird eldritch snail horror if I want to get back to the surface.

It slithers out of the darkness, revealing its whole form. It’s bigger than the (I) grade snails by a good margin. It doesn’t look that different with only its shell being a bit more yellow and a weird hose that sits between its eyes. Maybe the monster will get a new fully developed third eye when it evolves?

[Segriad specked shooter snail] lvl 5/10 (H)

It's high level to boot. As if a start signal has been given, the tube between its eyes fills up like a hose and points at me. In a blast, a spray of mucus is released.

I dodge to the left and thank myself for not trying to fight this monster in the dark.

The mucus lands on the cave wall and hits a patch of moss. In a second the moss bubbles and melts away along with small pieces of rock.

Oh, that’s bad. I don’t want to get hit by that, I’ll just dissolve.

The monster shoots its weird mucus attack again, forcing me to dodge.

It repeats the movement for a third time and just as easily as before, I move out of the way of the attack. Honestly, why have a long-range attack if it can be avoided so easily?

Are monsters in my grade always so stupid?

The snail changes up its plans and activates a skill giving it a moment of swiftness. In a dash, albeit a slow one, it speeds towards me, having prepared a fourth shot.

I roll to the left feeling bits of the mucus hit my right leg. The next thing I know, a sizzling sound like someone is baking bacon is released. It doesn’t smell quite like bacon, however, more like the painful decay of the forest floor.

My teeth grit. This is yet another stupid monster that has only a few cards up its sleeve. And I’ve had enough of it.

The monster might have moved closer to get a good shot in, but it also moved closer to its death.

I run forward, claws aiming at its eyes as I push Stamina into them with my skills. The snail panics and tries to move back into the darkness, though with its speed skill on a possible cooldown, it won’t get there in time.

My claws cut off one of the monster's eyes. Orange ooze leaks out of the opening. Naturally, I get some of my claws and of course, the damn blood of the monster is also acidic.

The snail prepares another shot, aiming at my face. I grab the monster by its shell and pull it from the ground with some effort. I make it face the wall and it releases the spurt of mucus that it has been holding back.

I try to crush the shell in my hands. Unfortunately, its Constitution proves to be too high for me to do any proper damage to it. In a second attempt, I activate Claw Slash and let the Stamina flow into my claws. I let it build up until my fingers start to tingle painfully and cut across the monster's shell.

My attack creates four new scrapes on it, but beyond that it barely does anything. It must have some kind of shield skill that protects it.

I try again with Claw Slash, this time letting the stamina build up until the pain is too much for me. I cut my claws over its shell again, this time releasing a terrible sound. The snail thinks so too as it retracts into its shell.

This thing is really working on my nerves. First, it decides to attack me and when it finds out that I am too agile for it, the monster just decides that it has had enough of me and retreats into its shell to wait me out. No, this all won’t work like it. Your retreat will be your death you shooter snail.

I continue to claw at it, making bits flake off. My Stamina lowers quickly, too quickly.

I deactivate my skills, wanting to conserve my resources for when something else might decide to show up.

Anger boils in me. After all this, it will just get away? If I keep tearing at its shell without any skills active I will be here for hours.

Trying out my tactics for taking care of the weaker snails, I smash the creature into the wall. Again, again as if I’m knocking on someone’s door. Instead of the shell cracking, the rock begins to flake off the wall.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I look around for anything I can use. My eyes fall on the pool of mucus that’s still sizzling away on the ground. My gaze flicks back to the snail that still shows no movement.

What about a taste of your own medicine?

***

*Congratulations. You have gained a level. You are now level 3.

+6 HP +3 SP +1 Strength +2 Constitution +3 Free stat points.

I split my points between Perception and Mind, with two going to Perception and one into Mind. This fight has taught me that it’s useful to see the monster ahead of time. The two points don’t do much, but somehow I feel like the dark spots in the cave are less oppressive.

*Identify (C) lvl 2/20 -> Identify (C) lvl 3/20.

*Claw Slash (B) lvl 3/20 -> Claw slash (B) lvl 5/20.

Some nice skill levels too.

I stare at the new level of Claw Slash. In just one day I gained five levels in it. It’ll slow down soon. Though, it won’t be long until I reach the cap of the skill.

Sairal said that you can increase the cap of skill by five levels if you spend a skill point on it. But with skill points only getting rewarded with each new level, they are in limited supply. With low rarity skills levelling faster, they need more skill levels to reach the same strength of higher rarity skills.

Luckily enough there exist some ways to upgrade skill to a higher rarity outside of Pursua’s hammer. However, Sairal didn’t want to go into too much detail about them, instead focusing on information that would be useful in the short term.

I look at the pile of mucus, the half-dissolved remains of the snail bobbing up and down in it like an ice cube in a sweet summer drink. I let out a relieved sigh. This grade seems to be easier now that I can pick up new skills. Or I just have grown more efficient at killing monsters. It might just be a mix of the two.

Melting the snail to death with its own acid took a while, and I’ve had my fill of fighting for the day. So, I head home.

Nothing disturbs me on the way back. There still aren’t any monsters at the stream. The only spot of monster activity is the lake next to Sairal’s tree. Schools of fish and some kind of squid have engaged in a mortal battle. I watch the fight, as I photosynthesise. The few hours of sunlight are enough to bring the skill to level 7

When the sun truly begins to set, I head to my root cellar, only now realising how eerily quiet the forest is without the constant chirping of the birds.

In my home, I search for the most comfortable spot to lie and fall almost immediately asleep. Fighting costs a lot of energy, and even as both my resource pools are capped, I still feel tired. The last thoughts I have for the day are about the lake and how I need to be careful around it with so many aquatic monsters being trapped in it. All of them will probably fight until one thing remains.

Tomorrow I’ll head back to the caves and search for another one of those shooter snails. They are good for experience.

***

Back in the caves I peer at a patch of moss on the wall that seems to be moving. I peel back the moss carefully, curious what is doing that. A tiny creature stares up at me.

[Pill bug] lvl 3/5 (J)

So this is a (J) grade? The real bottom of the barrel in this world. And as it seems, they are small bugs that can gain levels from eating plant matter. The tiny monster stares up at me in fear. I move on and leave it alone, not feeling the need to kill it. There is no point in it. No levels to gain, or skills to be improved. Is this the fairness that was talked about? Is this the system messing with my mind or just making the rewards non-existent so that weaker monsters won’t be targeted by the strong?

Well, that might be the case for that Pill bug but for me, I don’t see that happen anytime soon. Mandrakes are treasures loved by everyone of all grades.

I move onwards, passing the remains of yesterday and head further into the cave. I don’t know how long I have been walking into the cave that is sloping downwards at an increasingly steep rate the further I go.

Something changes in the caves and in the air. The Valeroal moss that has always been green up to this point, starts to have patches on the wall where it’s more blue than green. In some places, the moss even glows an earthy brown.

After some poking and prodding, I conclude that it somehow is the exact same plant, even the system says so with it calling it still Valeroal moss and not some kind of variant. Maybe the skill is too weak to notice the difference, or there truly isn’t a difference to it.

I head even deeper into the caves, the warnings Sairal gave repeating in the back of my mind.

Soon enough the cave widens into a large room where other caves intersect, all lit by the glowing moss. I keep staring in awe at the new sight. Not only is this room quite large, but the moss also grows thicker here on the walls. More than half of it all is covered by the moss, and it too grows in more colours, though most of them are a mix between brown, blue, and green.

It seems that the entire cave I walked through before this was a prelude to the Depths.

There are exactly four other caves connected to this large underground space. I shrug and head into the most left one. To not get lost, I activate Claw Slash and scratch a small marker into the floor with some difficulty. Besides doing the obvious, I also hold my arm against the left wall so that I can backtrack where I came from more easily.

This new cave is far bigger and doesn’t have that many patches of darkness. I keep walking and hear the chittering of a creature not long after.

My steps slow as I activate my skills. I’ve heard this sound again. It must be another Cave crawler. And this is their preferred terrain. They rarely have to turn around here in these caves so that shores up their biggest weakness.

My pace picks up as a wince sets in on my face as I somehow try to keep the level of Stamina that courses through my veins at an equilibrium with my mind. I arrive at a bend in the cave and pass it, claws outstretched ready to cut any monster to ribbons.

I see the origin of the noise. As I thought, it’s a Cave crawler, though this one is a bit smaller than the one I encountered before.

[Juvenile Cave crawler] lvl 3/5 (I)

Interesting, this one is one listed as a juvenile. Doesn’t that mean that it is following some sort of evolution path?

The monster doesn’t notice me as I spy on it from just around the bend. It’s harvesting the glowing moss from the wall, seeming to prefer the moss that has the most vibrant green colour. It completely ignores the brownish moss. So there definitely is a difference.

I track the creature further into the caves, curious what it will do with the moss that it is taking somewhere. It easily navigates through the tunnels, moss in its stubby, mandibles.

A few minutes later the monster enters another intersection where more caves connect. I wait at the end of the tunnel, hiding between some parts of rock that jut out of the ground.

There are more Cave crawlers here most of them being in (I) grade. However, there are a few (H) grades in the mix watching over them as they flow back and forth of the offshoots some moving in the other caves while others retreat with moss in their mandibles.

All of the Cave crawlers with moss enter another tunnel, seemingly moving towards the same direction. These monsters must be social insects like ants. I remember that there are some species of ants that cultivate their own fungi back on Earth. Maybe that is what they are doing.

I stalk them from my hiding spot while I keep an eye on the tunnel behind me. This might be another good opportunity to level. All the (H) grades only have one or two levels under their belt. I just somehow need to kill them all without getting hit.

There is a commotion from a tunnel to my right. Loud chittering echoes from it and the three (H) grades that guard the weaker Cave crawlers move into the tunnel.

My eyes follow the guards as they leave the intersection. I count to five in my mind and not at myself. Showtime.

I burst out from my hiding place and kill the first Cave crawler in record time. The juveniles look shocked when I do. They search around the room for any of the guards. Seeing none they try to flee my claws.

I finish them off one by one as the difference between grades only grows more clear. You don’t need to be scared of a monster that is a grade above you. No, you need to be scared of a monster that is a grade above you and has a few levels.

If all these monsters would come at me in a tide, I might not survive but they aren’t coordinating at all. I hurry up, not wanting to deal with any of the guards that might return any moment.

Once all the weak Cave crawlers are dead I retreat back to my hiding place, wanting to see what happens next. Who knows, I might get a chance to take on the (H) grades if something new happens.

I duck back behind the rock just in time as a monster steps out of the cave where the guards went into. A bright blue beetle moves out of the tunnel at a lazy pace. In its long mandibles that move from a cobalt blue to an inky black at the tips, it holds one of the struggling Cave crawler guards. With a crunch, the beetle ends the guard.

[Armoured cobalt Coleptera] lvl ?/20 (G)

Huh? Its level is a single question mark. Does that mean that it’s below level 10? Now that I think about it, haven’t I seen this monster at the stream before when I first found it?

I keep watching it as it looks around at the carnage I made. It turns around looking at each entrance, scanning it for monsters. When it looks in my direction I duck behind the rock, begging for it to not see me. I wait for a good moment to pop out again. The monster has moved into the cave where all the Cave crawlers were bringing the moss to.

This monster… it's too smart. It checked the area for threats before moving on. It planned ahead of time and moves through the caverns with a clear goal. That can only mean one thing. That blue beetle is a second-lifer. It’s someone just like me.