Moving around in this body, as I expected, turned out to be extremely inconvenient since the roots are too long and thin for normal movement. Although my limbs are really quite strong and the weight of my body is almost not felt, their number in this case only hinders. Not to mention the fact that four practically paralyzed roots, to put it mildly, do not add to the convenience...
From the unaccustomed, I am moving quite slowly through the tunnel. But still, it all starts small! I need to gradually hone my skills because sooner or later I will still have to leave this cave!
As I progress, I discover more and more plant monsters. Tree-like, herbaceous, with mouths, with vines, with acid, with thorns, with needles, and even with the semblance of hands! Many of them would probably be almost impossible to see with normal vision, but thanks to the Vibration Sense and the thermal radars, I can see them quite clearly from close up. Although, some of the plant colleagues are not even going to hide somehow. I am more surprised not even by their number, but by the fact that there is enough food for everyone! If you add the representatives I already know, there are at least more than thirty of us here. And this tunnel isn't over yet!
After I've probably covered about fifty meters, I notice that something is approaching quite quickly from behind! Fast, of course, compared to me... This creature is about half the size of a giant beetle, But I'm not going to underestimate him. I'm still not fully recovered. I must retreat, and quickly! I've definitely walked far enough from the battle site.
I squeezed between the two brothers who would be my natural protection in case of danger and leaned against the edge of the cave. It feels like the tunnel is about twice as wide at this point as to where I came from. Yes, and the moss and vines hanging from the ceiling are now much more… However, in the very center of the passage, it became even more spacious. But where I stopped, the vegetation was too thick, and my vision was almost useless. If before I could distinguish the silhouette of an approaching beetle, now I can only determine its location by sound. From this angle, I can only see a few of my plant colleagues, and then only vaguely. However, this also applies to a potential opponent, so it's more useful for me than it is harmful! And if you take into account the Blood-sucking colleagues who are located nearby, you can assume that my current position is as safe as possible.
Dug in at blank range to the wall, I listen to surroundings with Vibration Sense. Now that the roots are completely in the ground, this skill works at full capacity. It feels as if my hearing has “recovered " after leaving a noisy place.
...Hmm. Judging by the fact that this bug stopped for a moment, and then the noise suddenly increased several times, it will not be allowed to get here. Hopefully, until my full recovery, this will be the case with every opponent...
Speaking of opponents! If I'm not mistaken, I've heard something about the profile of a Beetle Bully. Of course, after the ”most detailed" description of the abilities, there is almost no special hope to get really useful information from the system, but suddenly? I don't have anything to do anyway… I'm afraid I will have the patience of a monk if I don't go mad with boredom. Hmm, need a distraction!
Beetle Bully! Overview!
...
Nothing?..
Open the list of profiles!
...
...Nothing?
Hmm... how was it… Open the base profile of the Hatchling Beetle Bully?!
[Hatchling Beetle Bully: This creature has high levels of strength, stamina, and survivability, but rather low dexterity. Practically does not feel pain and does not have high Intelligence indicators. Watch out, sharp claws!]
Phew, it worked! But, as expected, there is almost no useful information. Even from the appearance of this creature, it was clear that he was strong, resilient, and survivable. Although the fact that the Bully Beetle does not feel pain is quite interesting. That makes him even more dangerous! That's a berserk tank…
The fact that the Bully Beetle is quite slow, of course, could be used against it in battle, if not for one ”but". My movement is restricted even more! You can, of course, try to use the tactics of the bush electric jigsaw, but after a visual demonstration of the consequences of a failed attempt, you do not want to.
Considering that ambush tactics are more suitable for me, I'm going to stick to this particular direction, and not try to "change the wheel on the move". Even if the Beetle Bully is only an extremely rare "mini-boss", and the other opponents will be much weaker, it is still too dangerous to meet them in a direct collision. Of course, during the fight, in any case, I will have to be almost at point-blank range with a potential blood donor, but this is exactly why I need to maximize my chances of success. Even if the first fight can be considered successful, it is not a fact that the next time will be the same.
I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't taken the Disguise, but in any case, I don't regret this acquisition. Now that I have a free skill point again, it's not worth delaying the acquisition of something else useful. Who knows, maybe soon there will be a fight right in front of me, in which I will have to take part?
Hm... Just like last time, the “traveler skill” I absolutely don't need it. With my ability to move, I can't get very far anyway... But of the remaining three combat, each has a place to be.
With the help of a Stabbing Attack, you can increase the penetrating ability of the Root Spikes, which will most likely indirectly increase the efficiency of Suction... There are some doubts about the Crushing Attack. Of course, I can use the roots as a spiked club, but I think it is much more effective to use Compression, although it will be more difficult. But is compression considered a crushing attack? If so, this skill will be no worse than a Stabbing Attack, because using two different skills at the same time, you can not only increase their levels in parallel but also cause double damage (probably)! But, if the Crushing Attack only works on the principle of "crushing blow", the skill point will be spent almost in vain… And I'm not entirely sure about the crushing blow. If, when hitting an enemy, it is primarily concerned with Root Spikes, which are clearly considered a piercing weapon, will such an attack be considered crushing at all? Perhaps I will need to hit only the part of the root that has no spikes? In this case, it will be the maximum failure possible!
The principle of operation of a Hidden Attack is also not completely clear. Most likely, this is something from the Killer class skills, as an attack from the back. That is, there is a fairly high probability that it will only work in cases when the enemy does not see me. The description doesn't say that, of course, but... what if it really is? In that case, against an opponent who has already discovered me, this skill will be completely useless! Of course, I want to stick to ambush tactics, but you should always consider the possibility of a direct collision! A Hidden Attack might increase the invisibility of the attack itself, but what if the enemy actually discovered me before then? I'm not even able to sneak up on the enemy from behind to increase the chance of success! Anyway, what's the point of a Hidden Attack for me if I don't kill the enemy instantly anyway? This skill will only help me capture too fast opponents before they decide to escape...
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It's decided! It is better to choose something that will be really useful in any situation! Increasing the damage never hurts! Besides, when using Compression, my spikes will surely be able to show the full power of the Stabbing Attack, so the choice is quite obvious!
[You wish to acquire the Stabbing Attack skill, cost 1 skill point?]
I confirm!
And again, a pleasant feeling of lightness! Now that all the things with the status are temporarily completed, it's time to do something more practical.
Perhaps, it is worth continuing a kind of exploration and at the same time engaging in pumping one of the most important non-combat skills. Even if I manage to improve my vision in the future, the Vibrations Sense will definitely never be useless! The ability to detect the enemy hiding behind the corner will always be relevant.
In any case, I have almost nothing to do right now, because moving in such a narrow space may well provoke a rather astute opponent. And in this situation, I am not sure that my colleagues will cover for me... And even if they decide to help, it is not a fact that they will have time... So it is better to follow the example of the others and once again not attract attention. And at the same time, using the Sense of Vibration, bit by bit to collect information about the world around.
***
Feeling the contents of my stomach gradually decrease, I observe the recovery of a unit of HP about once every ten minutes. Now that the health score has reached 167, the constantly distracting and restless pain has finally stopped. Also, apart from the healed cracks in the body, my severed roots almost completely grow back. This fact makes me particularly happy. If the regeneration was limited to just regrowing the wound site, I would be in serious trouble!
Although there is still some discomfort in the damaged areas, compared to what it was in the beginning, these are small things. It looks like I'm going to have to get used to this kind of feeling, with this kind of lifestyle...
It must have been about a day since the battle with the Bully Beetle. Of course, I don't have a watch or any reference points, so I can only calculate the time according to my own feelings.
Every hour it seems to be more and more that this is not a cave, but a dungeon with spawn mobs! Seriously, during this time, more than twenty potential opponents have already passed by. And this is not to mention those who have not reached this place! I couldn't see them in detail because of the dense vegetation, but judging by their outlines, most of them are smaller than a Beetle Bully. Although, not the fact that they are weaker. After all, they clearly surpass him in speed, and physical strength can be surpassed, for example, by poison.
Fortunately, no one has noticed me or my closest colleagues yet. Luckily, the meager consciousness of the plant brethren is enough to sit quietly and peacefully wait for hunger or recovery. Although, if you consider that the nearest plant monsters clearly do not look injured, it will not be a day before the next collision. I hope the victim will be less dangerous this time!
[Vibration Sense has reached level 3]
Finally! It's been quite a while! It took much less time to raise the Disguise to the second level. Although, if you think about it, it makes sense. After all, these skills are completely different and the Vibration Sense was originally a level higher. But most likely the difficulty of getting a new level increases as develop. Besides, with the speed of development of Disguise, not everything is so clear. Even though the fight with the Beetle Bully seemed quite long, I only sat in ambush for about a minute from the moment of its appearance. But other than that, given the current frequency of visits to this cave, it would be strange if no one passed by before the fight with the Beetle-Bully, thereby gradually increasing the skill even at a time when I had not yet fully grown up and got used to this body. At the time, I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Although, for the passive use of Disguise, most likely there is no need to strain yourself somehow. It is enough to take a position and not move.
Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the same Disguise gets “experience points” only if the enemy could have noticed me, but he didn't succeed. For example, because of the distance, terrain, or viewing angle. I doubt that for the development of the skill it is enough just to have an idea of the enemy's actions, being in conditions where detection is basically impossible. In this case, the skill of feeling vibrations would be a real cheat...
...Hmm. Immediately after raising the skill level, I felt some changes. I can't say that it has become much easier and more convenient to distinguish between vibrations, but the sensitivity has clearly increased. Now I can even feel the occasional falling drop of acid from the hoses of the acid sniper, who is located a few meters away from me. I hope it won't be too distracting from exploring the world...
However, most of the intelligence is related to improving the understanding of the principle of "work” of my colleagues. Still, without the ability to consider the opponents, it is extremely difficult to assess the level of their danger only steps. So I decided to focus on analyzing what was happening.
Apparently, my brave team was just one of many, and we were located approximately on the edge of the general cluster of similar plant monsters.
The distribution of the loot among my colleagues seems to take place in a rather interesting way. When one of the conditional teams is ready for battle and at the same time hungry, it waits for the enemy to pass by and fights until victory, or defeat. Then, after eating and receiving some damage or even losses, it waits for recovery. Then the cycle repeats. What is strange is that the rest of the plant colleagues completely ignore what is happening just a few meters away from them. Either this is some unspoken rule, or they simply do not need to crawl far away from their place of growth. Or maybe they're just full.
Be that as it may, as soon as any beetle got into this terrarium, it was soon taken over by healthier and hungrier plant monsters.
...This is all very interesting, of course, but where does such a large amount of potential opponents come from? Unfortunately, I can only feel the vibrations more or less accurately within the confines of this cave.
However, even so, I managed to find out an approximate map of the area by the location of the steps of the constantly arriving opponents.
To the right, the tunnel curved sharply, forming an angle of about 60 degrees. On the left, the passage was straight for at least fifty or sixty meters.
Also, most of the newcomers appeared on the left, while on the right there were only occasional echoes of the battle. That doesn't mean anything, though. I can just not hear most of the collisions because of the distance, because is not known how much this terrarium is stretched underground at all.
...
After reaching the 173-unit mark, my HP stopped recovering. At the same time, I felt hungry again. It seems that without food, you should not expect a quick recovery of health. Although I'm not sure if it's really almost recovering in one day, it's fast. For a human to heal in just twenty-four hours is, of course, incredible, but for a monster… In such an aggressive environment, anything can happen during this time!
Hm... I can, of course, try to provoke one of the passing bugs yourself, but I'm still not sure about the psychology of my fellow creatures. What happens if a fight starts in front of them, and they are still full? Will they participate or ignore it? I would not like to test this for myself… And even more so to be the original target of an unknown enemy!
Most likely, soon my closest colleagues will still show a desire to have dinner because they have not shown any activity all day. And since they were obviously hunting before me, they'll need to fill their stomachs soon. Although, it is quite possible that with full health, the resources obtained are spent more slowly. But even so, I doubt that one meal will be enough for more than a few days. Still, by the constant noise around, it is safe to say that fighting in this place is very common.
It remains to wait for the activity of senior colleagues and again try to show the wonders of human greed! Although, this time, it will be better to refrain from such risky collisions...