Right now, I'm exploring the underwater tunnels around here.

Using the orb I got from the skeleton, I can breathe underwater if I hold it in my mouth and pour some mana into it.

This area is actually very expansive if you use these underwater passageways.

I don't think it's as big as the spider maze, but it's still fairly large.

Fortunately it seems it's easier to navigate here, because every room looks distinctly different.

It's not the same chaotic rooms with beams and cobwebs everywhere.

Here, they are basically rooms with an island in the middle surrounded by water.

If I want to go to a different one, I have to jump into the water and then swim through an underwater tunnel.

During my exploration, the green skeleton has showed up three more times.

Every time, he would have something in his hand and would demand something in exchange for it.

"For...your armor..."

The first one, he offered me a black spiked mace for my armor.

I prefer swords, but I thought a weapon would be handy, even if I have to give up my armor.

So I accepted this trade.

"For...half...your mana..."

In the second one, I was presented with some blue mantle.

From his few words, I got that wearing it would make me regenerate mana faster.

I wasn't sure if it would be worth it for half of my current mana, but I decided to accept it.

When I wore it for some time, the effect was quite noticeable, but I'm still not sure if it was worth it.

"For...your eyes..."

The last one made me pause.

What do hell do you mean my eyes?

Am I supposed to gouge my eyes out and give them to you?

Needless to say, I didn't accept it.

I don't even care about that weird rock he was presenting.

Other than the weird skeleton trader, I discovered two safe houses.

One of them contained expert level fire magic book.

This ought to be very useful.

It's not like I can't invent these stronger spells by myself.

But it sure is easier when it's spelled out in front of me.

It might also contain some information I wasn't aware of.

The second safe house had a book about basic level air magic.

I have no idea how useful that will be.

No monster has used air magic against me, so I don't know much about it.

When I was skimming through the fire magic book, I stumbled upon some interesting concepts I wanted to try.

So I found a suitable test subject.

It was a giant praying mantis with four sickle arms.

The monster noticed me and came at me slashing with two of his sickles.

I avoided it by jumping back, but he kept charging me.

After finally finding a split second opening, I warded off one of his sickles with my mace and got near him.

Pressing my index and middle finger into his body, I pour mana into it.

[Scorch]

At that moment, he let out a screech and twitched, before falling down.

Then a smoke started rising from his motionless body.

Hmm, that's quite effective.

The downside is, I need to be basically be touching my target.

But it uses even less mana than fireball, while being many times more effective.

I guess by directly attacking his insides, it ignores any sort of protective shell or skin he might have.

Actually, it might be more effective against opponents with stronger defense.

Because instead of their protection keeping the heat outside, it keeps it inside.

While I'm thinking about how to make this more usable, the green skeleton emerges from the water yet again.

I wonder...

Is it the same skeleton and he is following me?

Or are there multiple ones and they are waiting for me to appear somewhere.

If it's the same guy, where does he put all that stuff I give him?

It's a mystery.

Now, what will the trade be this time?

The skeleton walks up to me and shows an orange bracelet in his hand.

"For...the corpse..."

...What?

He wants the mantis corpse?

Well, why not?

It's much better than giving him my eyes.

But what does the bracelet do?

When I stare at him, he points to the bracelet and more cold words come out.

"Better...fire...magic..."

Better fire magic...?

Does he mean, my fire magic will improve if I wear that?

Sounds like a good deal.

I go over to the mantis corpse and drag it over to him.

Then I take the bracelet off of him and equip it on my left hand.

Like always, he takes his loot (the mantis corpse) and vanishes into the water.

Well, let's see how effective this is then.

Umm, but there are no more monsters in this room.

I guess I will go somewhere else.

|= A bit of swimming and monster killing later =|

This bracelet is really good.

Normally, I have to manually transform my mana into fire when I want to cast a fire spell.

But this thing does it for me.

And much faster than me at that.

Before, I could shoot out one fire lance every three seconds.

Now, I can shoot one every second.

Anyway, I kept exploring this place a bit more and found the fake slime tulips...

Unless there is another one of those colossal slimes ahead, this is just useless.

I kind of wish I could bring with me to the start...

Oh well.

As I'm absorbed in the thought, the skeleton emerges yet again.

It has almost become a routine now.

I wait for him to come to me and show me what he's got.

This time, he carries a handbag.

"For...your arms..."

...

Well it's better than my eyes.

But still, what the hell!

What makes you think I will accept this trade?

And what do you plan on doing with my eyes and arms anyway?

The skeleton once again points at the item in his hand as I continue to frown at him.

"Endless...storage..."

Endless storage...?

Does that mean I could carry items in it without them becoming a hindrance?

That could be useful...

Too bad he wants my arms for that.

Seriously...

How would I even fight without my arms?

I haven't practiced using magic with anything other than my hands.

"Don't want."

As I said that, he slowly turns around and starts descending again.

"...wait."

The skeleton stops and turns around at me.

I'm curious about this guy.

Since he is the only thing, that isn't hostile, I might be able to actually get some information out of him.

Now, how do I do this...?

"What...is your name?"

The skeleton stares at me with his empty eye sockets.

After a moment of silence, he answers.

"The...merchant..."

That's not a name!

That's a profession!

...

Well, maybe he doesn't have a name?

"What...do you do...with my things?"

He looks down and goes silent again.

"Store...them..."

So he hoards them?

"Where?...And why?"

The skeleton raises his head and looks at me again.

"Can't...say..."

...

So he won't tell me, huh?

Well, I shouldn't expect much.

He's still a monster after all.

Quite an odd one, but still just a monster.

"Do you know...who keeps me here?"

At these words, he turns around and walks into the water.

But not before one word escapes his mouth.

"...god..."

...

A god...huh?

What does that mean?

Am I being punished for something?

...

I don't know.

I just don't know.

It doesn't make sense.

I need to ask the skeleton more the next time I see him.

|= Countless hours later =|

Where is he?

Where did he go?

After that last time, the skeleton hasn't appeared at all.

Did he run out of items to present me with?

Or maybe I angered him with those questions...

I hope not.

If he decides to fight me, I stand no chance.

Well anyway, I found yet another safe room.

It contained...a book.

But it wasn't a magic book.

It was titled 'Your anatomy'.

What's anatomy?

When I skimmed through the pages, I understood what it means.

Apparently anatomy means my body?

There were a lot of...strange things in this book.

I never thought about it much, but the book described the inner details and the workings of the body.

I learned things about things like bones, muscles, organs and other things.

For some reason, I was oddly interested in this and I pretty much read all of it in one sitting.

Although, I might have gotten carried away a bit when I cut off my hand to look inside...

But no worries, as long as the hand is intact, I can reattach it with heal.

I also learned how reproduction works...

...

...I had no idea it worked like that.

|= A bit of more exploring later =|

The skeleton never showed up again.

I really wanted to ask him more things...

I guess it will have to wait for the next run.

This area is probably explored enough for now.

I haven't found anymore safe houses.

And since the skeleton isn't showing up anymore, there probably isn't anything for me to gain here.

It's time to face the multiarmed ogre.

With this bracelet, it should be easier.

After trading away my lizard skin armor, I made another armor with the shell of a praying mantis.

I think, I'm prepared.

I walk back to the place, where the path splits and continue toward, where the ogre should be.

As I walk, I see a few monsters here and there, but nobody attacks me because of phantom presence.

I don't remember exactly where it was, so I need to be on guard at all times.

I keep walking for a long time, but still nothing comes.

Hmm...maybe he-

Interrupting my thoughts, a green arm shoots out of the water and coils around me.

"Ngh...!"

Following the arm, the multiarmed green ogre emerges from the water.

The grip on me tightens as I feel my bones breaking.

Struggling to move, I touch the arm with my middle and index finger.

[Scorch]

The ogre lets out a scream and lets go of me.

I fall onto the ground, panting.

Shit!

I have been had again.

Quickly, I reach for the healing scroll tied to my thigh and pour mana into it.

[Heal]

But the ogre doesn't give me any time and swings his arm down to crush me.

I roll out of the way at the last second, only to be blown away by the shockwave of the impact.

While in the air, I gather mana in my left palm.

And when I land, I release it.

[Inferno]

Faced with a multidirectional attack, the ogre swiftly sinks himself back into the water.

[Heal]

I try to quickly heal myself before he emerges again.

...and I succeed.

Why isn't he coming at me anymore?

Is he letting me go?

...

Nonono, I can't let my guard down again.

I need to learn from my mistakes.

And then I stood there, waiting for the attack.

...

After some time, I started having thoughts of just leaving again.

And at that moment, an arm shot from the water at me again.

This time, I reacted in time and warded it off with my mace.

He continued to assault me with his arms, while I dodged and parried.

All the while, I started pouring mana into the mace.

I wonder, how this will work out...

But it should work, right?

I raise my mace overhead and faced the ogre.

Then, I swing it downward while releasing the mana.

[Phantom annihilation]

With a loud crushing sound the ogre and all the water around him disappears and a dry hole is created.

All the water, that used to be there, is ejected into all directions in the form of big waves.

I see a glimpse of the ogre at the bottom of the pond.

Or rather than a corpse, a red splat.

The water then gushes back in to fill the hole and swallows the ogre's remains.

Bonus:

How long does a typical 'run' take?

It depends on many things.

From waking up, to walking into the tunnel, which leads to the 'fire area', it usually takes about two hours.

Fighting off the ogre and slime duo and then traversing the 'fire area', would take 9 to 10 hours.

But since she sleeps in the safe house, altogether it takes 16 to 17 hours.

Next, the 'bird area' is actually smaller than the 'fire area', but because she usually sticks to the walls it actually takes about the same.

After reaching the slime and blowing it up, she needs to wait for about 30 hours until it's safe to pass.

The giant spider maze is the real headache.

Since she still doesn't remember the optimal route, she usually wanders in there for 5 to 7 days.

What comes after the spider boss, is the water area, which she hasn't cleared yet.

So, thus far, to get to the water area, it takes anywhere between 8 to 10 days total.

"What an epic adventure!

Ain't that right?

Ah, but she has to repeat this every time she dies...

I'm honestly surprised she still keeps trying.

If it was me, I would get bored and just settled down somewhere in these caves haha!"

"By the way, why does she keep calling the ogre's tentacles 'arms' ?

It's weird."