In the Pit

I kneel down and cut open the chief's chest, the new dagger cuts him open like he is made of paper. I remove the chief's beast core and stare at it.

*ITEM*

Beast Core

Quality: Inferior

Would you like to absorb it? Y/N

"Yes!"

You have absorbed an inferior beast core!

HP +20 MP +20 Str +2 Agi +2 End +2

*DING* *DING* *DING* *DING*

"Huh??"

Congratulations!! You have unlocked Abilities!!

For having Strength exceeding 50 you gain the ability Superior Strength!

For having Agility exceeding 50 you gain the ability Superior Agility!

Superior Strength

You gain half your strength stat as damage to melee attacks.

Superior Agility

You gain half your agility stat as damage to ranged attacks.

Oh awesome! So my melee attacks get +25 damage basically? Cool! Then I pick up the chief's sword and examine it.

*ITEM*

Knight's Sword

Hit +2

Durability 49/50

I sheath the sword and strap it around my waist. Then I gather up the twelve daggers, all the rope, and my broken spear and carry them back to my room. Next I drag all the corpses to the well room and toss them on the bone pile.

When I return to the lair I decide to take a look through the archway in the left wall that I noticed earlier. It leads to another room, with a crude altar inside making me think this is the shaman's room. There are also two torches in here so with the seven in the lair and the one I already stole that makes ten total. I grab one and stare at it just to make sure.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Everburning Torch

I should figure out how to take these with me, when I get out of here I'm sure I can sell them. Then I smash the altar into pieces and drag them out to toss on the bone pile, then I also drag out the trash the goblins were using as beds as well as their wood supply and add it all to the bone pile. Then with the rooms empty I check all the walls for illusions.

When I don't find any I take all nine torches back to my room. Now with ten torches the room is a little too bright, so I grab one of the light stones planning to hide it when I realize I never identified it. So I stare at it intently until the skill activates.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Daylight Stone

Made by trapping a Light Spirit.

'Trapping?? Oh no that isn't good!'

I grip the stone tightly and with a flex of my muscles I break it in half. The light dims down to a little floating puff of light, which immediately flies to the other light stone and circles it.

"I understand!"

I pull the other light stone down from the ceiling and snap it in half. Again the light dims down to a little puff of light. The two puffs fly to each other and circle closely, as they do their lights change through all the colors of the rainbow. Once they settle down and return to yellow light the two puffs fly over and circle my head.

*DING*

Congratulations!! You have gained a Title!

Title: Blessed by the Light

Benefit: You take 25% less damage from Dark and Shadow attacks!

"Aww thank you little ones. Now go! Be free!"

I watch the two little puffs of light zoom off down the hallway to the well room then straight up the well. I wish I could fly out of here so easily! I sit down and finish the last of the soup while thinking about what I should do next. After I eat I go over to the wall and add the goblin lair to the map.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Cartography has progressed to level 2!

Cartography

Level 2

Int +2

You can draw crude maps.

As I study the map I realize I missed something, I never went to check out the room at the end of the hall past the spider. So I grab my weapons and set off to explore the last room. What I find is another small room full of trash, so I start hauling it to the well room and add it to the trash pile.

As I am cleaning out the room I make a discovery, in the back corner of the room there is a hole. As I kneel down and take a look at it I realize this must be where the rats and goblins came from. It isn't big enough for me or for the spider to have used unless it came up while it was a baby.

The hole looks like it goes for about twenty feet and it slopes down the entire time, but since I haven't found any other way out of the pit I am probably going to have to figure something out. For now I simply finish clearing out the trash and then go back to my room to rest. I am not very hurt so I decide to sleep for once instead of meditating.

When I wake up in the morning I remember just how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the cold stone floor. As I stretch all the kinks out I remember that I haven't done my fitness routine in a while. So I do my exercises, then I double them to make up for lost time.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Fitness has progressed to level 3!

Fitness

Level 3

Str +3 End +3

'Hmm it's been a while since I checked, Status!'

Name: Ash

Race: Black Lion

Titles: (2) The Merciful, Blessed by the Light

Class: None

Level: 0

HP: 301/301

MP: 155/155

Str: 52

Agi: 51

End: 46

Int: 41

Wis: 26

Cha: 21

Unspent Points: 5

Abilities: (2)

Quests: (2)

Skills: (14)

Combat Skills: (8)

Magic Skills: (1)

Crafts: (9)

'Looking good!'

Oh yeah I have stat points to spend! Should I spend them or save them? I'm not sure what to raise right now so I guess I'll save them. Besides, my stats are going up plenty from all the skills anyway. Next I take out the new sword and go through a few attack routines.

*DING*

Congratulations! You have acquired the combat skill Sword Basics!

Sword Basics

Level 1

Str +1

You do 5% extra damage with swords.

Then I sit down and take the spearhead from the broken spear, then I carve one of the dire wolf's leg bones into a new shaft and attach the spearhead. Well now it's a short spear but it should work. I take the spear, grab the bucket, and head over to the mushroom area.

First I check on the edible mushrooms and find new growth and pick some of the older stuff. Then I move to the stream and sit patiently with my spear ready until a fish swims by.

*SPLASH*

*DING*

Congratulations! You have acquired the craft skill Fishing!

Fishing

Level 1

Agi +1

You can attempt to catch fish.

Ha ha I got the skill even though I missed it? I try several more times before I get my first fish.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Fishing has progressed to level 2!

Fishing

Level 2

Agi +2

You can attempt to catch fish.

Okay so fish and mushroom soup it is! I take the food back to my room and start cooking some soup. While the soup is cooking I take a piece of the spider carapace and try the new knife on it.

It does cut it but not easily, but this means I can make armor out of it now. I spread out the pieces of carapace and plan out what I want to make.

'Okay the two biggest pieces will be used for the breastplate and backplate, and if I use the last big piece to make a new shield that should leave just enough for....bracers and vambraces? Yeah I think that will work!'

I start carving while occasionally glancing over to keep an eye on the soup. I am taking my time and being very careful so I don't mess up any of the pieces since I don't want to go find another spider to get more material.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Scrimshaw has progressed to level 5!

Scrimshaw

Level 5

Agi +5 Int +2

You can carve bone into items.

I continue working until the soup is ready. Then I eat half of it for breakfast and set aside the rest to eat later.

'Man I really miss salt!'

After eating I gather my bone pick and shovel, grab two of the torches, and head for the room with the hole leading down. First I carefully scrape away at the mortar until I can remove the bricks surrounding the hole. These I set aside for later, once all the bricks are cleared I start hitting the rocks around the tunnel. I plan to just widen the tunnel enough so that I can fit through it.

However, I have only made a little progress when my pick breaks. I decide that a bone pick just isn't going to be enough to mine through the rock so I head back to my room. I take out all the daggers I have collected from the goblins and sort through them. I set aside the eight best leaving me with fourteen to use.

I go out to the bone pile and search for fourteen thigh bones to use. This task is fairly unpleasant since the corpses have started to rot and the smell is fairly horrible, the only consolation is that due to the air flow in the well room that smell would be working its way up towards the throne room.

Once I find enough bones I carry them back to my room, there I sit down and take the first bone and carve a notch into the end. Then I insert a dagger hilt into the notch and tie it in place with a length of rope. Once it is done I shake it around and swing it a few times to make sure it isn't loose.

After deciding it will work I spend the next two hours making the other thirteen. Then I gather them all up and carry them back to the hole. I am cautious on my first few swings but the pick holds up fairly well, I soon learn to aim for weak spots and swing at an angle to preserve the pick for as long as possible.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Mining has progressed to level 4!

Mining

Level 4

Str +4 End +2

You can attempt to mine normal ore.

I soon realize that doing it this way I will have to make the hole a lot bigger than I originally planned otherwise I won't have room to swing as I move deeper. So I take a break from mining to remove more bricks from around the hole to make the area bigger, then I resume mining.

By the time I am tired I have enlarged the area around the hole and gotten to a depth of about a foot. I hope to make even better progress tomorrow based on what I have learned. Before heading back I take the shovel and clean up all the rock and dirt from the work area and pile it in a corner. Then I head back to my room to eat dinner.

While I am eating I pick up History of the Empire I to continue reading. It is slow going as I still have to stop frequently to translate words, but I am definitely making progress.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Linguistics has progressed to level 4!

Linguistics

Level 4

Int +8

You can attempt to decipher other languages.

Hmm, it says when the empire was formed it covered the continent yet makes no mention of beastmen? I read until my eyes start getting heavy then put the book aside, clean up the dishes and the room, before sitting down to meditate.