Mwa-hahahaha! I'm getting turtle soup for dinner tonight!

Let me explain: I found a turtle sleeping in the open. I webbed it. Now it's helpless to my aura of pestilence, despair, evil, and everything else related to darkness.

What? Too little details for you? I'd say it's enough. After all, this will give me more sweet EXP! Mwa-hahahaha!

And no, the title I got earlier is not responsible for my diabolical attitude..., much. I think. Let me take another look at it:

Title Name: Merciless Acquisition condition: Kill a certain number of creatures with a lower racial rank than yourself within a limited time. Perform a certain amount of merciless acts. Effects: Increased damage toward lower-ranked creatures. Positive correction for obtaining negative Karma. Negative correction for obtaining positive Karma. Rewards: Skill: [Heretic Magic Lv.1] Skill: [Sadistic Constitution Lv.1] Description:

A title granted to vile scum that does not know the meaning of the saying "play fair".

...nope. Nothing about changing your personality. Even if the description alone is hostile enough to make it change. Maybe the skills?

Skill: Heretic Magic Skill Type: Magic Skill Tier: 1 Attribute: Heretic Effect: A skill that allows usage of magic spells of the Heretic attribute to inflict harm onto a target's soul. Unlocks new spells by clearing various conditions, such as increasing this skill's level. Unlocked magic spells: Lv.1: "False Discomfort"

The magic skill seems innocent at the moment. I can't use it since these types of skills require a magician-line class. Even if messing around with the soul sounds bad...

It's good to know that you can have skills outside the attributes you specialize in, but I should consider obtaining the titles for the Light- and Poison attributes as fast as possible in case I end up with more titles that give me skills that are of different attributes than what I'm aiming for.

Oh, as for the unlocked spell-list, it's only showing what I theoretically have at the moment (but can't use it because of the reason explained above). "False Discomfort" tricks the target's very soul into feeling uncomfortable..., but outside a haunted house, I fail to see the profit in using such a spell.

But back to the current problem. Is the second skill guilty for my sudden bloodlust?

Skill: Sadistic Constitution Skill Type: Passive Skill Tier: 1 Attribute: none Effect: For each successful attack, a positive correction to the pain inflicted on a target will be granted. For each successful attack, a positive correction to the user's aggression will be granted.

Okay, we got our suspect. You have the right to not be silent and cannot call a lawyer.

But man, attacking more often will lead to a pain hell for my opponents from now on. But the trade-off is that I'll become closer to a berserker with each strike. Can't say I like this skill.

*Clack, clack, clack*

Uh-oh. Someone's coming..., and isn't that the sound of boots? In the Dungeon? Does that mean...more adventurers?! Time to hide!

I left the webbed (and still sleeping) turtle behind and ran into a small cave that I used [Identification] on to see if something was hiding inside there. There wasn't. Lucky me.

From my hiding space, I saw several figures getting close to the captured turtle. ...what are these guys? Knights? They're dressed like ones, with armor in white and gold, but they got a different appearance from each other.

One of them has more gold on his suit of metal, a black cape, and is wielding a spear. I'd pick him as the leader, based solely on his appearance.

Knight #2 has no weapons at all, but the gauntlets are so ridiculously huge that they could go as weapons instead. Maybe that one got some kinda "brawler" or "fighter" class?

Two knights seem to just have strapped some pieces of armor on top of some wizard-ish robes. Maybe they're magic knights or something? One member of the duo seems to favor crosses on their outfit, so maybe that one's the healer in the party?

Then there's another "proper" knight like the leader-guy with the spear, but this guy looks like the wimpiest of them all. He's only carrying a sword, and honestly, his armor looks the cheapest of them all. No fancy decorations at all.

Last in the group is the guy walking in front of the other one. But calling him a knight may be stretching it a little. He looks more like a thief with that huge cloak that's covering most of his body and how he's checking the ground like that. Only his helmet hidden underneath the hood, the metal boots, and the gauntlets on his hands show that he's part of the same knight group.

The sound of the metal boots seemed to have (finally) woken the trapped turtle. It tried to get out of the web, but a sorry pal. I'm quite proud of those threads' durability~. And then the turtle's head flew. Wait, what did what??

...it's not a mistake. The turtle just got the wackiest execution I've ever seen! ...okay, I've not seen any executions before in either life, but you get the deal.

It seems like the spear-using knight did the deed. He moved with something you could call super-speed, crossed a distance of over 10 meters so fast that I couldn't see what was happening, and with a single thrust with that spear of his, he beheaded the turtle before anyone (maybe except for the knights) could comprehend the scene.

After confirming the turtle was dead, the knight group started to investigate the turtle's corpse. Or, do I think they're investigating it? They've taken out these wacky thingamajiggies... whatever they are. Looks like some sorta video camera, or some scanning device. My Observation-eye skill tells me there's mana in those gizmos, so... magic machines? Nah, that sounds weird.

In any case, if those guys are so busy with their science projects, let them be. I'm outta here! It hurts not getting the kill for myself, but my life is always more important than EXP. But I wished I could taste that turtle flesh...

---

Some times after I ran away from the knight brigade, I arrived at a new crossroad of dilemma. A real-life-deciding junction! Okay, I'll stop joking.

The road is splitting into four, like the Greek letter Ψ (psi). The next floor is through the left-most upper road, while the path to the 1st floor, the path I'm on right now, is the road at the bottom. And I've already checked out the other two paths on my first visit to this floor, but I honestly don't wanna take them even now.

The right path leads to some sorta machine, and while I'm not 100% right about it, I think it's the thing related to this floor's quest. Not that it's easy to reach. It's guarded by a freaking two-headed snake turtle! I ran away the moment I laid my eyes on the behemoth on my first trip here.

The middle path's better. Just your everyday frog hive... frog hotel? Frog society? A big area where the frogs in the area have made their official sleeping place. Way too big. I couldn't take that place on even now after I evolved and got new tricks up my sleeves. Don't have any clothes though. Wonder if I should start making some so I'm prepared when I evolve and get a humanoid body...

Anyway, I'm not gonna go frog-hunting with the knights breathing down my neck, so I'm going for the 3rd floor. If I'm lucky, those knights will prolly aim for the machine and clear the quest. That will give me some time to find a hiding place and watch them pass by. I hope...

---

It's been a day or so since I left the 2nd floor..., I think. There's no sun here in the Dungeon, so my only method of knowing when a day has passed is by going to bed and waking up again.

In any case, it seems that the knights have been busy. K-N's telling me that the 2nd-floor quest has been cleared, most likely thanks to the knights. Man, I didn't see much, but those guys were awesome. That spear-dude is one thing, but they all managed to beat that two-headed menace of a turtle.

Even if they only managed to lure it away from the machine and destroy the gizmo, it's still impressive. I'd be asking for their autographs if I could if that's what they did. I'm sort of a stealth-type myself after all...

But now that I have a chance to think about the spectacle from yesterday..., I've so learned how weak I am compared to the outside world. If I hadn't hidden when I heard the knights approaching, I'd be dead alongside that turtle.

Sure, those knight-guys could have been an exception compared to the general power level of humanity. Even the Kigal-Note said the average stat value of humans was from 80 to 100. But that doesn't change the fact that exceptions exist.

Means I have to grow to a point where I'm an exception among exceptions! The king of the hill! The demon supreme! The spider in her nest! Wait, that last one feels off...

In any case, I gotta up my game. Fast. And hard. So, K-N~. You got any tips for me~?

Acknowledged. Owner Garami has the option of either obtaining new attribute-focused skills related to Poison or Light, her attributes of choice, and obtaining their "Technique User"-titles as fast as possible, or she could attain new skills that passively improve her general abilities to a stage higher than what she could do with status values alone.

Hmm, titles do sound tempting, but..., I guess I should get the boring yet practical stuff done with first, don't I? What options do I have if I go the "passive"-route?

Acknowledged. The possible options for passive, performance-improving skills are:

Skills that directly improve status values,

Skills that improve one's abilities outside status values in the same manner as [Parkour] and [Climbing],

And skills that improve one's five senses are also advised to obtain.

Hold up. What's the last one about?

Answer. The last option is related to skills that improve one's five senses such as smell and sight. This unit provided this option due to owner Garami's reliance on sneak attacks, so improving her passive detection abilities is a fine suggestion. By extension, it is advised to obtain mental-improving skills such as [Concentration] to assist in sorting and analyzing the new data obtained by these skills.

Oh, that sounds fair. But with better eyesight and hearing, won't there be a chance that I'll be weaker against stuff like flashbangs or loud noises?

Answer. While there is such a risk, evolved skills of this variant often take notice of this and include defensive abilities against such weaknesses.

Hmm... Well, it's better to know more about what's going on around me. So for now, I'll take-

Caution. There is one skill that owner Garami should obtain before choosing anything else.

Before I could by any of the skills, K-N moved its pages to show a specific skill.

Skill: Sleep Skill Type: Passive Skill Tier: 1 Attribute: none Effect: Improves recovery through sleeping.

...are you joking with me?

Answer. This is no joke. This skill will prove useful in the future.

...well, I guess I do get to earn proficiency even when asleep, and being well-rested has never hurt anyone...

In the end, I bought the [Sleep] skill along with the eyesight-improving [Vision Reinforcement] skill and the hearing-improving [Auditory Reinforcement] skill. Let's hope they'll be of any worth later on.

...is it just me, or do I feel like I'm being watched? ...must be my imagination.

---

"TARGET HAS YET TO SHOW ANY VISIBLE SIGNS OF HAVING A HIGH TARGET PRIORITY. REMOVING THE SPIDER-RESEMBLING CREATURE FROM THE TARGET DATABASE. RETURNING TO THE BLACK BARON FOR FURTHER ORDERS." - ???