Having dealt with the unfortunate hunger problem and learning a valuable lesson along the way Botan was not to be deterred and went on merrily hacking and slaying away. Having learned his lesson he no longer shunned his fallen foes corpses no matter how disgusting they tasted. With Zombies being the exception, not even he was stupid enough to try and eat those, anyone ever knew that you didn't let zombies bite you and most definitively didn't try to eat them. He had taken a couple of mysterious items from his foes; scrolls with names such as "a scroll labeled ETAOIN SHRDLU" that he had absolutely no clue what they were for. In total his inventory read like this:
Coins
€ - 149 gold pieces
Weapons
d - 44 +0 ya (in quiver)
c - a +0 yumi
a - a +0 katana (weapon in hand)
b - a +0 wakizashi (alternate weapon; not wielded)
Armour
j - a +0 orcish helm (being worn)
k - a +0 pair of hiking boots (being worn)
e - an uncursed rustproof +0 splint mail (being worn)
Comestibles
l - a gunyoki
m - 2 eggs
Scrolls
h - a scroll labelled ETAOIN SHRDLU
n - a scroll labelled FOOBIE BLETCH
o- a scroll labelled HAPAX LEGOMENON
Potions
p - a magenta potion
r - a pink potion
g - a swirly potion
Tools
f - an uncursed blindfold
Surely there was use for these things but for now they weren't important enough to merit his attention. It was nice that he found a gunyoki, upon inspection he surmised that it must be real people food and decided that it was best left right in his sack for emergencies. This place hasn't been very forthcoming in regard to food and so it was to be treasured. In a moment of calm, he tried praying again to see what this whole god business was about but was bluntly told by that his goddess Amaterasu Omikami was displeased with him and so he didn't continue this particular pursuit of knowledge.
Pressing on, he found another stairway further down the dungeon. He descended and found himself in a branch that identified itself to him as the "gnomish mines". It was a damp place carved straight out of the bedrock. The structure of it differed from what he had seen before, gone were the now familiar rectangular rooms connected by narrow passages behind, sometimes, hidden doors and replaced by a singular cave that narrowed, twisted and grew to into large open spaces. The monsters here were of a different kind too, the first he encountered was gnome. A small feeble, remotely humanoid creature that wielded a crossbow and immediately opened fire upon laying sight on him.
Botan charged, and cleaved the offender in two with a mighty slash of his trusty katana. None could stand before him! And he cried out in defiance. Then came the little gnomes friends, and what ensued was such a terribly bloody and rapidly fought slaughter that its details hardly registered in Botan's mind. Arms, legs and heads lay strewn around the damp cave floor, the blood of the fallen gnomes made the very ground wet and slippery as it coalesced into a sticky paste. One of the gnomes drew a wand and tried to overcome Botan's great assault with trickery but only managed to hit its weak companions with its sleep magic, making it even easier for the raging Samurai to behead them.
When the work was done Botan inspected his prize. There wasn't much to be had here, but he took the magic wand with him, out of curiosity. The various daggers and crossbows and bolts he left to rot. There was no point in burdening himself with such junk when he already had the finest bow and arrows he could ask for. But he gladly ate a couple of his fallen foes to satiate his always raging stomach. It was weird, he felt like he could eat for days and never be satisfied, which was very different from what his real body was like. Botan never considered himself one for gluttony, but this wasn't a real place so just went with it no matter how disgusting the corpses tasted.
As finished up his meal he noticed a little kitten approaching him. It didn't look very dangerous and he felt somewhat lonely and so he shared some of his bounty with his new friend and named him KitChiko in honour of his fallen friend. Together they searched the gnomish mines and slew a couple more gnomes in friendly unison.
By now Botan had levelled up twice again and was feeling stronger than ever, and his good diet and continuous training had been rewarded with an increase in strength and constitution as they went up to 16 and 18 respectively. Happy with his achievements so far he pressed on.