I proceeded through the cave while taking any path that I didn't explore yet. The markings that I left behind were helpful with this. I found some cockroaches along the way, some of which were the survivors from my fight with the Queen. They were easy to deal with without their coordination from before. Some of my stats had also increased after my fight from before. Until now I still don't understand what causes them to level up. It almost happens randomly. Most of the paths still led to dead ends but I found what looked to be a treasure chest at the end of one of them.
'Oh! Finally, something game like. Let me have a look inside…'
I controlled mud to open the chest. I stood a good distance away because it might be booby trapped. Only when the chest was fully open did I go closer to take a look. Inside the chest, I found a small rusty knife, an unused torch, and some crystals like I have in my bag. I carried the knife with my right hand and stored away the rest in my backpack. My right arm wasn't made of mud and I didn't use it much to fight even though I was right-handed. I was glad to finally have an actual weapon but sad that I couldn't find anything that could help Jeff. Thus, my exploration and cockroach extermination continued.
While I explored, I didn't find any signs of my classmates or of a mud monster like the one that attacked me. Only cockroach type monsters.
However, I did find another dead end but this one was different. When I used Sensing, there was a mana reaction on the cave wall at the end of the path. Finding it fishy, I threw a mud spear at it. My attack went right through the wall and caused it to fade away. Shocked at the sight of the disappearing wall, I backed up a bit to be careful. I peered into the revealed pathway and saw a glowing treasure chest at the end.
"Oh wow. A totally not suspicious glowing chest behind an illusory wall… I'm not buying it."
I morphed the mud spear I threw earlier into a mini mud slime and approached the chest with it. Just when I was about to open it…
*Boom*
The chest lid slammed open and two long creepy arms popped out. It grabbed my mud slime and tossed in inside before retracting its arms and closing the lid again.
"A Mimic huh. At least they don't walk around with a giant tongue sticking out like in that one game I played with a sun-praising NPC."
Learning my lesson from that time I used Analysis on the Cockroach Queen, I tried using my Sensing, Analysis, and Camouflage skills together to see if I could discreetly get its information.
Name: Chest Mimic
Race: Trickster Demon
Class: Assassin
'It worked!'
I was about to Detonate my mud that it swallowed to kill it, but then I had a better idea. I approached closer to the Mimic and used a lot of mana to create a lot of mud from my ruby. Using Spawn, I controlled the mud into a dome shape to trap the Mimic. When the dome was complete, I started to shrink it.
*Muffled boom*
The arms of the Mimic popped out again and pierced through the top of my mud dome. It was much stronger than I thought. Seeing that the Mimic was about to break free and start eating my dome, I activated my buff skills Body Enhancement, Mind Enhancement, and Harden. This made my mud dome stronger and sturdier. But the Mimic still had room to resist.
"Let's change that."
*Boom*
I detonated the mud that it ate to weaken the Mimic. The arms flopped down losing strength but not dead yet. I quickly controlled the mud to encase the arms again and started to use Dissolve and Assimilate.
[Skill Disguise acquired through Assimilation.]
"Yes!" Seeing that I got a skill from the Mimic, I deactivated my buffs but continued to dissolve the rest of it to recover the MP that I just used.
[Skills Morph + Harden + Disguise combined into Shapeshift.]
'?! What a pleasant surprise. Morph, one of my essential skills and one that I heavily rely on to move and fight, had combined with the new skill I got along with Harden.'
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 10 [25%]
MP: 15 [91%]
STR: 10 (+5)
DEF: 10 (+25)
INT: 17
WILL: 15
SPD: 8
<
Shapeshift
-Rest Omitted-
I looked at my stats and saw that the new skill was a passive. It also increased my STR and DEF by 5. Considering how Harden only increased my DEF by 5, this skill was definitely an upgrade. It uses less MP too. Sadly, the Mimic didn't have any loot but Shapeshift more than made up for it. With this path cleared out, I moved on to another.
###
Back at the cave where Danae and Jeff were.
"*Sigh* it's so dark… I wonder how Ruby can see without any light…"
Danae started to speak to Jeff to try and lessen her fear of the dark. He was still unconscious of course.
"It's human nature to be scared of the dark. Humans were able to discover fire and electricity thanks to their fear of the dark."
She spoke trying to convince herself while ignoring the historical accuracy of her statements.
"If only I had a way to make a fire or some sort of light…"
Suddenly Danae noticed some light coming in from the entrance to their hiding place. Footsteps could be heard approaching them.
"Huh? Ruby is that you? Did you find a light source or anything to help Jeff?"
She spoke trying to speak to the person approaching. But there was no reply.
"Ruby…?"
Danae raised her guard and became suspicious. The rock that was blocking the entrance started to move…
###
In a long corridor in the cockroach cave.
As I walked through and ignored all the paths which I already explored, I noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. Not in a metaphoric sense but an actual light was heading towards me. I hid behind a corner of a wall and used Sensing to strengthen my hearing. I heard a single set of footsteps coming towards me. Without knowing whether it was a friend or enemy, I stayed hidden. When the footsteps sounded to be about 15 steps away from me, it suddenly stopped.
"Come out! I know you're there!"
'What kind of idiot with come out just because you said so?' I thought to myself while staying put. For some reason, I was able to understand the person's words which is weird if this was another world. Using Sensing, I noticed that the person was a man and he was using mana in his voice. Maybe that's why I can understand him?
"My job is Elite Scout and I have the skill Enhanced Hearing so I know you are there. I'm speaking to you because I don't mean any harm."
'… Well shit. Guess I don't have a choice then.' But before I headed out, I took some extra precautions just in case. After setting it up, I copied what the man did with his mana and spoke.
"You'll have to forgive me for being cautious. This isn't a safe place after all. I don't know whether you might attack me or something."
I walked out with my knife in my hand while being on guard. I looked at the man who seemed to be two heads taller than me. He had handsome features with blonde hair sticking out of his leather helmet. In fact, he was geared up in all types of leather armor. There was a small buckler on his left arm and he was carrying a torch with his right hand. A shortsword in its sheath tied to his waist. Honestly, he looked like a well-geared foreign cosplayer to me. As I walked out, I noticed him staring at me with his mouth slightly open.
"Ah! *ahem* No worries. I can understand your point-of-view. But what are you doing in this dungeon alone and with no light?"
'Did… Did he just make his voice deeper? Whatever. So this place was indeed a dungeon like I thought. I should try milking this guy for more information while seeing if he has something I can use to help Jeff. If he tries anything funny, I'll… probably run away. I'm not yet mentally prepared to kill another human being.'
"I have the skill Night Vision so I can see just fine. My fri- my party and I found this place while travelling and decided to explore hoping that we could find some treasures and valuables."
I was lying of course. He said earlier that he had a skill so that means that he's aware of the skill system which I'm not surprised about. At least now I know that it's a globally accepted fact that skills exist. He also said something about job earlier but my status doesn't show anything like that. Enemies that I've used Analysis on have classes in theirs. I even saw a cockroach with the Scout class. Could he be referring to that?
"I see. That's a bit troublesome then…"
He said this while reaching for something in his pocket. I raised my guard ready for a fight.
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 10 [25%]
MP: 15 [91%]
STR: 10 (+5)
DEF: 10 (+25)
INT: 17
WILL: 15
SPD: 8
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
Shapeshift
<
Dissolve
Body Enhancement
Mind Enhancement
Mana Release
Sensing
Analysis
Camouflage
Sculpting
Detonate
Spawn
<
Tongue Enhancement