It took quite a while for me to pick up all my spoils from the battle. I now have a total of 54 crystals which heavily weighed down my pocket when combined with the rocks. Since I found it too troublesome, I decided to store the rocks in my mud body instead. This allowed me to easily make a rock pop out of my hand to throw.
'I need to find a way to get a long range skill with more damage.'
With the rocks in my body, some of the mud had been displaced which I gladly used to make my front "assets" match the back.
'It's not fake because I consider the mud as a legitimate part of my body now. And I will gladly debate with anyone who thinks otherwise.'
I started to feel more confident with my new mature figure. While I was collecting the crystals, I didn't forget to try and use the Assimilate skill on them hoping that I would get more skills. Unfortunately, all I got was mana and no skills. It seemed that in order to use the skill, the target had to be alive with no crystal formed from their body yet.
I also tried using Analysis on the green balls but there was no reaction of mana or anything. Like they didn't even exist in the first place. This didn't stop me from collecting them of course. They were the results of my hard work after all.
With all the loot collected, I resumed exploring. The cockroach den had many branching paths which led to dead ends. Quite a few of them still had cockroaches which I easily took care of.
Name: Cockroach Worker
Race: Roach Insect
Class: Scout
Name: Cockroach Sculptor
Race: Roach Insect
Class: Ranger
The combination of Sensing and Analysis allowed me to pinpoint all the nearby cockroaches' locations. I used Camouflage and a simple rock throw to kill most of them. When I discovered lone cockroaches, I snuck up behind them and with one stab I killed them.
I also used Assimilation whenever I could and was able to get the [Sculpting] skill from the Cockroach Sculptor. Using Sculpting along with Dissolve, I modified my stockpile of rocks into a golf ball shape. My Dad had once taken me to go golfing with him. It was a boring sport but I loved spending time with my Dad. I remember him rambling on about the aerodynamics of a golf ball. I didn't listen much but I remembered enough to know that the shape of the ball helps it go farther than the usual smooth surfaced balls. I tested out my new projectiles and saw a sharp increase in my accuracy. I had an easier time hitting enemies that were further away.
'I gotta thank my Dad the next time I see him.'
Thinking of my Dad made me grow melancholic as I started to miss him. I didn't even know if I could ever see him again. But this only motivated me more to get out of this cave and figure out a method to get back home.
I spent a few hours exterminating the cockroaches. Since mapping out the entire place was getting troublesome, I just kept going left when I found a junction.
'What a boring cave. I thought that it was some sort of dungeon and that I could find some treasures or hidden secrets. But so far I have found nothing but cockroaches and dead ends.'
Taking a break in one of the emptied out caverns, I took a look at my stats.
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 9 [48%]
MP: 15 [100%]
STR: 9 <+1>
DEF: 9 (+20)
INT: 17
WILL: 14
SPD: 7
<
-Omitted-
<
-Omitted-
Sculpting
<
Tongue Enhancement
One thing I noticed was that every time I used Assimilate on a cockroach, my HP would recover slightly. I looked down to my chest while moving the mud out of the way to see that my skin and flesh had started to recover. Another thing was that my STR had risen a level. But I don't know when it did so I don't know what caused it to go up. Making a mental note to keep an eye on my stats for any changes, I resumed my hunt.
###
In a city a few thousand kilometers away from Ruby.
A flash of light occurred in a certain room in a certain castle. As the light slowly faded away, the dim lighting of the candles in the room showed the figure of a boy in the center of a magic circle that was etched into the ground.
The boy looked disoriented as he lay on the ground.
*click clack*
Footsteps could be heard heading to where the boy was.
"Oh Hero! You have finally answered my summons! My name is Alisa von Cloud, first princess of the Cloud Kingdom!"
Suddenly hearing an alluring and pleasant voice speaking to him, the boy looked towards the voice. There, he saw a girl in an elegant blue dress with deep blue eyes and blonde wavy hair that reached all the way to her waist. Stunned at the appearance of such a beauty, the boy's jaw dropped. But he soon realized how rude he was being so he immediately got up and greeted the princess.
"Um. Hello… uh can you tell me what's going on and where I am?"
Hearing the words that came out of the boy's mouth, the princess smiled.
"Yes, of course I can tell you. But this isn't a place for conversation. Let my maid servant, Talia, take you to another room. You can ask her for anything you need." The princess replied while speaking in the most soothing way she could while leaning her body closer to the boy.
Seeing the princess get closer the boy got flustered and his cheeks started to turn red.
"Oh um okay. Ah right! My name is Aven. Aven Cruz."
Aven said while slightly backing away from Alisa. She noticed this action and giggled a bit.
"Well then, Hero Aven. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the world of Miyer!"
Aven got visibly confused after hearing what she said.
"Don't worry all will be explained soon. Talia. Bring Hero Aven to my special guest room."
"Yes, Princess! Hero Aven please follow after me."
Talia, the short-haired maid servant in a classic maid uniform, immediately started to walk towards the only doorway in the room. Seeing this, Aven started to follow after her but not after taking a look back to Princess Alisa who was waving gently towards him. When both of them had left the room, Alisa's gentle demeanor suddenly evaporated. What replaced it was a cold-hearted and emotionless look.
"Vargas."
"Yes, your Highness?"
A hooded man in a dark purple robe appeared from the shadows of the room while kneeling towards Alisa.
"Where did you send the trash?"
Vargas looked up when he heard her question. The dim lighting of the room shone on his face. He was a man who looked to be in his late thirties with black hair and a scar going vertically across his left eye.
"Since the start of the summoning 2 days ago, a total of eigh- no seven candidates were summoned before the current Hero. They failed to meet expectations so I sent them to the cockroach cave dungeon in the south."
Hearing what he said the Princess frowned.
"You fool! Why did you send them to such a low leveled area?! There must absolutely be no loose ends and this summoning must remain a secret!"
"You must understand, your Highness. What we are doing is already going against the World's Will. The summoning alone had already taken up 75 percent of our mana reserves. Taking more failures into account, I could only send them to that location. A bunch of mana-less kids have zero to no chance of survival there." Vargas replied while a bit flustered. He knew of the Princess's temperament. One wrong move and his head would be separated from his body by tomorrow morning.
"*Sigh*… What's the closest royal guard squadron to that location?" The Princess said after thinking for a while.
"It's the squad under Sergeant Hall. I had already sent a messenger their way, your Highness."
"At least you did something right. Seal this room. Try to keep Alexis from finding out about this. The last thing we need is for him to snatch the Hero from us."
"Thy will be done."
###
Back in the cockroach den.
While killing more cockroaches, I shuddered as I felt a chill run down my spine.
"Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden? Is someone plotting to kill me?"
[Skill Foresight created.]
"…"
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 9 [49%]
MP: 15 [100%]
STR: 9 <+1>
DEF: 9 (+20)
INT: 17
WILL: 14
SPD: 7
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
<
Dissolve
Morph
Body Enhancement
Mind Enhancement
Mana Release
Sensing
Analysis
Camouflage
Sculpting
<
Tongue Enhancement