*Wheeze*, *wheeze*, d-did I get away?

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

New Location of Interest found: [The Water-Knot of Glavras], Floor 9.

A hologram-looking message box, in the same style as the info that the rude book showed when it talked about Grey Demons, appeared in front of me when I exited the tunnel. Should I take that as an answer? I know at least where I am. But exactly what is here?

The view from after I exited the tunnel leading out of the lake-grotto was a wide field... but still underground. From the name, I would say this place is a... Dungeon? It has that kinda feel. Besides, what cave would be divided into "floors" like this one? A cave that doubles as a department store?

Whatever this cave's identity is, how do I get outta here? I'm not staying in the same neighborhood as some lake serpent and a bunch of lost souls. Even if their numbers are growing smaller by the second.

Which begs the question: where did I come from? As in, what floor is that underground lake on? Did I really climb from an underground 10th floor to the 9th, or am I climbing up the passageways inside some mountain cave and just left the 8th floor where the lake's located?

I didn't see any tunnels going down on the lake floor, so I guess it didn't have any other floors below it. I hope. I sincerely hope so. And hey, maybe the lake serpent was the Dungeon's boss or something. Yeah, let's go with that. Not that it has anything to do with me.

Or rather, I want nothing to do with either group. Those ghosts, or whatever they were, are too scary! And what was up with that snake in the lake? Nessie is nothing compared to that.

Okay, enough fooling around. I gotta focus on my current predicament, aka, the current floor.

This 9nth floor takes the shape of a wide cave, wide enough that I can't see the other side in the darkness, despite there being better lights here compared to the lake floor. The ceiling's pretty high, but some strange, fog-like stuff is preventing me from guessing how high, but it is higher than I can climb, at least. If I could climb with this wacky body...

And that's a problem. Because this cave's a natural labyrinth through large walls made out of bedrock. I'm not planning on wandering in a god-knows-how-big labyrinth, so it's smarter to just climb over it all.

The only problem is: how?

The walls are too big to be climbed without tools, even for a normal human. Let alone a flimsy little Grey Demon. An experienced climber could have done it, but not me. My memories regarding my past life are as faulty as ever, but one thing I'm certain of is that I'm no outdoor person.

And there's one more reason why I wanna skip past this labyrinth. Further down the road, it splits into a T-junction. And two huge boulders are standing at the entrance towards this road. Boulders that are glowing pale blue.

I'm not courageous enough to be investigating shining boulders as the first (second?) thing I do in my life. Considering what I've already seen, it wouldn't surprise me if those rocks were radioactive or something worse.

But whether I like it or not, guess I'll find out now. Someone's getting closer to the rocks in the T-junction. I can't see who, or what, they are, but they're going this way. Are they adventurers who want to challenge the (potential) boss, the lake serpent?

Alas, they never got the chance. "Why", you ask? Because two snake-like heads popped out of each boulder and chewed the poor guys into gory confetti! Ugh, I think I'll never be able to even look at a pinata again... After the meal, the heads returned to the boulders and didn't look any different from before the gore-fest.

Okay, glowing rocks with snake-heads are bad. Let's climb.

Then again, I need something that'll give me an edge when climbing this thing. ...it pains me to ask, but you, book? Do you have an idea?

Suggestion: obtain either the [Climbing] skill, the [Jumping] skill, or a skill that can produce strong-enough rope items for usage.

That's more options than I expected. I was afraid this thing would only show me info about stuff I specifically asked for, not a vague question like the one I just asked. Can you tell me more about those options? What are their pros and cons?

[Climbing]: a skill that will assist its user by providing instinctive knowledge of climbing and gives a positive correction on SP consumption when climbing. Obtaining this skill will allow owner Garami to scale the wall easier, but nothing is for certain.

[Jumping]: a skill that makes it easier to reach higher grounds when jumping and gives a positive correction on SP consumption when jumping. This skill is less likely to achieve owner Garami's goal of scaling these walls compared to [Climbing], but it could be useful in other circumstances as well.

As a rope is essential for scaling walls and in other events as well, a skill that allows you to produce it can be helpful in many circumstances.

Okay..., what sorta ropes could a skill help me with obtaining?

Vine-related skills from the Wood attribute is one possibility, but as we are located in a Dungeon-like environment where alteration of the terrain is limited, it may not be possible for owner Garami to fully make use of these types of skills.

Damn, that's a bummer..., hold on a sec! This place's a Dungeon!? And what's with this owner-talk?

The area is known as the "Water-Knot of Glavras" has been confirmed to be a Dungeon. This is not a complete conclusion, there are too many differences between this "Water-Knot" and other reported Dungeons to say for sure. Therefore, it is deduced that this area is "Dungeon-like".

And owner Garami is owner Garami.

Wow, this book is both awesome...and ridiculous.

If you say so.

I wasn't talking to you! Oh, whatever. Is there some other stuff I can use as a rope? Something useful in general?

Then may I suggest the [Spider Thread] skill? Grey Demons and spider-type monsters have the common points of using status ailments and traps to defeat their prey. And thanks to the Grey Demon being capable of unlocking a line of monster skills related to a species of monsters, choosing spiders will be a good choice for the future.

Spiders? I know that this race of mine has some similarities with the grey, demonic ones, but is it such a good idea to decide this so hurriedly.

It is. The ownership of skills, especially those used for a long time, has a positive influence on evolutions to new species when their users reach the level-cap for their racial levels. Obtaining skills that fit oneself the most as soon as possible is highly suggested.

Yeah, but...spiders? Who'd wanna evolve into a spider? Can't we aim for something more human-shaped? Or in the worst case, something like a dragon? They're cool.

There are no humanoid-related skills that could positively influence owner Garami's evolution to a humanoid demon. Dragon-based demons do exist, and the Grey Demon does have the possibility to become one. However, dragon-related skills are too expensive to be obtained at the current point, even with the additional skill slots gifted by goddess Alvatria.

You know even that, huh. I still don't see why spiders are such a good choice.

Owner Garami seems to be unused to combat, so the suggestion of spider-based skills, which one is more likely to create traps with instead of fighting, seemed to be a better choice. Especially considering owner Garami's beginner-tier class.

Fine, fine! My head's starting to hurt. Can't we just move on?

That is a wise decision. Scavengers may arrive soon to partake in the remains of the individuals killed by the "tentative-name: snake-headed boulders" from before. And they are likely to have better perception-type skills compared to the "snake-headed boulders". If they notice your existence, you do not need to be a genius to tell that they will prey on you.

...time to go spider!

Or so I said, but I hurriedly asked for a list of all the rope-related skills that I could get from the book. Turns out there are quite many of them, but the book's advice seems to be the most suitable for this job, and the future...

Okay, I'll do it. Besides, there may be something like an Arachne further down the evolution line. Or something humanoid, I hope.

I tried to access that "skill shop"-thing that the goddess talked about, and it appeared in front of me like that holographic message board that popped up when I entered this floor. That was easy. And anti-climatic.

SKILL SHOP

Available Aether Points: 1.0

Bonus: 7 free skill slots.

Search by word: Spider

Search by skill []

Available skills:

[Spider Thread Lv.1] - 3 Aether Points [Spider's Fang Lv.1] - 3 Aether Points [Spider's Shell Lv.1] - 3 Aether Points ...

Wow! I only typed in spider to save time. There are more options on the list, but the threads are the only things I need at the moment, so please excuse me.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Through using a free skill slot, you have acquired the skill: [Spider Thread Lv.1].

6 free skill slots remain.

I guess I got a new skill. How do I-

*Splat*

Oh, from my mouth. This needs some finesse to master...

---

One short training montage later:

*Splat*

I did it! The threads reached the top of the wall!

And during my training, I figured out that skills can be used almost instinctively. I didn't need to push any holographic buttons or select a mental command or something. They're as easy to use as my legs. Maybe not my current legs, but you get the deal.

And here we...go..., urgh..., argh..., halfway...there...

Climbing up isn't so bad, except that it seems that my stamina is worth junk. Am I in bad shape, or a good one? I mean, this body was "born" today..., I think. That goddess was a little unclear on that part.

I took a small break when I reached a platform on the wall big enough for me to sit on. Phew, that was exhausting. Can I get a drink, please?

And it seems that it was good timing for me to take a break. Why? Because someone else's going to become prey for the boulder-disguised monsters.

I still can't get a good view of what they are, but it seems that they're a group of four. And..., ugh. Another round of gore confetti. I'm feeling sick...

*Splat!*

Ugh... one of their arms was sent flying all this way. It landed on a small platform just below me...bleurgh...

The two snake-headed boulder monsters started to eat the remains of the intruders. Despite not having eaten anything yet in, well, my whole life (lol), I'm losing my appetite here. Even if I had it, I don't think I could eat something like the arm down there...huh?

What's up with that arm? It got fish-shells on it. Was it some sorta fish-people that got turned into the gore splatter just now? Better than humans...I think

Let's just keep on climbing. Watching the splatter show gave me enough time to catch my breath... huh? There's something down there... A snake?

A dark-colored snake was slithering out of a hole in the wall, looking for body parts of the fish-people that flew over here. Is it a scavenger? Maybe it has something like [Lurk] to keep itself concealed? That could be why I didn't notice it before now. ABSOLUTELY not because I didn't pay attention!

...let's see if I can take some of those "perception-type skills" for myself later.

"SHAAAA!!" - Snake

Huh? Oh crap! I just met the eyes of the snake! It looks up here with murder in its eyes!

Why!? Is it 'cause of the arm that's up here? Take it! I don't want it! So please, have mercy!

Yikes! It started to climb up the wall! And it's fast! Like, three times my speed!

F-fine! If you want the arm, take it!

I spit out a spider thread on the arm and yanked it at the snake.

...oops. I hit the snake in the eye. The pain made it fall from the wall. S-sorry. It wasn't on purpose..., and here he comes again! Just eat the damn arm already!!

I can't fight here, there's too little space to work with! And that snake looks stronger than me. Heck, I was born just today! And even the book can see that I know zilch about monster fights!

Then, let's get out of here! Throw threads, secure, and climb!

... Oh yeah. It climbs three times faster than me. What shall I do now!?

If I could just get to the top, then I... wait a sec. If I can't reach the top before it reaches me, then don't I just need to slow it down?

I grasped the thread out of my mouth with my front legs and turned around to face the snake. Wow, this body's more flexible than I thought.

Mentally shaking the stupid comment out of my head, I aimed a different skill at the snake. [Darkness Bullet]!

A black sphere was made in front of my open mouth, just like I envisioned, and was shot at the target: the stalking snake.

The black sphere burst after colliding into the snake, forcing the slithering bastard down to the ground again. Take that, you pathetic, unprocessed wallet!

Not waiting for the snake to recover, I fixed my position and started to climb towards the top again. Finishing him off? No way! That snake's big enough to do a chokehold on two of the fishmen at the same time! Let alone little, adorable me!

I resumed the climbing and hurried up the wall. For some reason, I felt that I shouldn't use [Darkness Bullet] again so often, so I saved it for later. In the end...I did it. I reached the top. But the snake's still coming!

There are lots of stones here (non-glowing, luckily) that I can use to hide behind, but will that be enough to fool that stalker? Ain't there something I can drop on that bastard to make him quit? ...I think I got it.

*Bang!*

Good. The foundation got broken. Here...we...go!

*Rumble, rumble, rumble, RUMBLE*

*SPLAT!*

Strike! Take that, you stupid sucker! If boulder-bowling existed, I could take a crack as the champion title!

But honestly, that was close. It's a good thing that the ground one of the boulders was on wasn't exactly stable. And that I saved that last [Darkness Bullet]. Because I feel like I'm running on fumes here. It could be just that I'm tired, but still...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Your level has increased. You have gone from Lv.1 to Lv.4.

You have earned a total of 0.3 Aether Points.

Due to the Blessing: "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.3 Aether Points were earned.

Your Karma Value has decreased.

You have acquired the title: [Giant Killer].

Acquired skill: [Strength Lv.1].

Acquired skill: [Vitality Lv.1].

Eh? Hold on for a second. Didn't, like, lots of stuff pop up now? Eh? Eeeeehh!?