After awakening from his beauty sleep, Kai noticed it was still just as bright as it was when he got here.
"Is it always gonna be daytime here?"
Although Kai doesn't know long, he's been in the dungeon. The sky has yet to have any changes.
Getting up from his spot, Kai made his way back to the Garden.
Once Kai got back, all the bodies of Caterpillars were still there, which was a good sign. Hopefully, the Gnomes wouldn't move for a while.
"Alright, let's make a bigger goal this time. Level 10 within the next day."
Although it was only five levels, the Exp needed for those five levels was a lot, especially considering the amount of Exp each Caterpillar gives.
Picking up some stones from the stream, Kai went to find some prey.
Making his way towards a group of Caterpillars snacking on some flowers, Kai threw his stones at the first two Caterpillars and stomped on the remaining three.
Although Kai could stomp on the Caterpillars and kill them, it wasn't because he was so strong, but more that a level 1 Green King Caterpillar's defenses were too weak. Their exoskeleton and flesh are fragile. The average tier-0 level 1 Human adult could quickly kill a Green King Caterpillar.
Looking at his level, Kai smiled, 'This won't take too long. Maybe I'll test some things against the Gnomes later.' Kai thought.
{Level: 5/20 - 55/60Exp}
Kai only needed 5Exp to get level 6, one step closer to level 10.
Feeling the power in his body, Kai finally thought he would be able to do something with his life.
"And to think this all happened thanks to Ashen and Eric. I can't wait to show them what they did, Hahaha." Laughing himself, Kai continued on.
After getting his rocks back, Kai made his way from group to group of Caterpillars, killing them and eating when he was hungry.
After killing 16 more Green King Caterpillars, Kai returned to the stream for a fresh drink.
Checking his level, Kai was not disappointed.
{Level-7 - 79/80Exp}
Although he was killing more Caterpillars, the Exp he was getting kept getting worse.
"I can get level 10 soon if I keep killing Caterpillars, though I don't think I can rely on them after that."
Kai knew killing Caterpillars after level 10 would take forever to level up. At level 10, he would only receive 5Exp each Caterpillar. At that point, he would need to kill over 20 Caterpillars just for one level!
Looking towards the Gnomes in the middle, Kai couldn't help but wonder, 'How much would each Gnome give? Would a level 10 give 10x more Exp than a level 1?'
Just the thought of 10x more Exp made Kai shake in excitement.
Kai was even more pumped to level up than before.
Jumping up and stretching a bit, Kai changed his goal, "Level 10 in 1 hour! I can't wait!"
Running towards a big group of Caterpillars, Kai started his massacre.
~Squish~ ~Smack~
Punching, stomping, throwing his rocks. Kai used all he could to kill the Caterpillars as fast as he could.
{You Earned 8 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
{You Earned 7 Experience Points}
{You Earned ... }
----
After killing a total of 30 Green King Caterpillars, Kai was now only one Caterpillar off of level 10!
{Level-9 - 97/100}
Looking at a Caterpillar eating a blue flower, Kai had stars in his eyes.
"Hahahaha, finally!" Kai couldn't contain his excitement.
Approaching the Caterpillar from behind, Kai raised his foot just above its head.
~Squash~
{You Earned 6 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
"Hahaha, finally. Now It's your turn!" Kai shouted, looking toward the Garden Gnomes with a crazed look in his eyes.
"{Status}"
"{Status}."
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 5/20 -> 10/20 - 3/110Exp
Hp: 280/280 -> 600/600
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 23 -> 40
Vitality: 13 -> 30
Strength: 16 -> 35
Intelligence: 14 -> 33
Agility: 13 -> 34
Dexterity: 13 -> 36
Resistance: 10 -> 28
Attribute Points: 8 -> 18
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}
Seeing how much his stats improved, Kai couldn't be happier.
Even after killing Caterpillars since he woke up, Kai didn't feel a slight sense of tiredness.
"I should test my strength before I go against the Gnomes. Caterpillars are far too weak to test." Looking around, Kai decided to try to test the flowers back in the flower forest.
Walking back to the Flower Forest that brought him to the Garden, Kai smiled happily the whole way.
Approaching the first flower Kai found, he pulled his arm back and punched forward with all his might.
~Bam~
Kai punches straight through the flower stem, leaving a fist-sized hole in the middle of the stem.
"Woah! This is awesome."
From flower to flower, Kai would kick, punch, and knee.
~Pow~ ~Bam~
Wherever Kai went, flowers would fall. The once beautiful flower forest was now partially destroyed. Flowers topped over other flowers, and the ground was uprooted from the flowers.
Satisfied with his work, Kai returned to the Garden.
"Now, how should I deal with the Gnomes? If I get close enough, would all of them start moving? Or if I attack one from a distance, will it and the rest come to me?"
With many unanswered questions, Kai started to form his plan to test how the Gnomes would react.
Kai grabbed a few big petals from the fallen flowers and set off to the Garden.
With the full Garden in sight, what Kai saw shocked him.
The countless dead Caterpillars were nowhere to be seen, now replaced with living Green King Caterpillars.
Kai was speechless. All his hard work in making a Caterpillar graveyard was for not!
"The Gnomes don't seem to have moved. So, where did all these Caterpillars come from? And where did the dead bodies go?"
Slowly, making his way to the stream to start his plan, Kai kept a watchful gaze around him, just in case something happened.
Thankfully everything seemed to be in order; Kai didn't find anything unusual.
Arriving at the stream, Kai grabbed as many rocks as possible, filling the petals with them. Next, Kai tied the petals to be able to hold the stones without them falling.
Slinging the two pouches over his shoulder, Kai made his way toward the Gnomes.
"I was able to store about 50 rocks in total. Although this won't be enough for all the Gnomes, including the floor guardian, this will shorten their numbers."
Making his way toward the Gnomes, Kai saw well over a hundred Green King Caterpillars. Unfortunately, he didn't see any abnormal Caterpillars.
Kai didn't care much about mutated Caterpillars anyway, 'Maybe if they were higher than level 1, they would be useful. However, it would give me barely any Exp now. And I don't need another antenna.' he thought.
Arriving at the destination, Kai looked at the plant to his right. The plant was orange with blue stripes, around 10 feet high. Hanging from the top of it was a giant pink orb. This orb was Kai's destination; standing on the orb, Kai would have an easier time throwing rocks at the Gnomes.
This way, if all the Gnomes do come after him, they shouldn't be able to hit him beside the Floor Guardian, Gnomak.
Climbing the plant by stabbing the sides with his fingers, Kai got on the orb and set down his pouches of rocks.
"Hopefully, I won't need to use more than three rocks per Gnome. This way, I'll only need to take three to four trips to kill the Gnomes. That includes the fact that not all the Gnomes come at once. If they all come at once, well, I'm not sure then."
Sucking in a long breath of air and letting it out. Kai calmed his racing mind, "Well, I don't know what will happen till it happens."
Untying one of the pouches, Kai grabbed two rocks and got ready to throw them.
Looking at the Gnomes, Kai aimed for a Gnome that was four Gnomes from the Floor Guardian. Bringing his right arm back, Kai launched his arm forward, throwing the rock directly at the Gnome.
~Thud~
The rock landed right next to the Gnome's leg.
"..."
"~Cough~ That was a... test. Yes, a test to see if movement would trigger the Gnomes. Good to know it won't."
Nodding to himself, Kai switched the rock in his left hand to his right. Bringing his arm back, Kai launched it forward. This time, the rock was directly on course to hit the Gnome.
~Cling~
The rock hit the shoulder of the Gnome, cracking it.
Although it was an instant kill, Kai wasn't expecting it to. It was already good enough that rocks could damage the Gnomes. With this, even if it took hours, Kai would be able to kill the Gnomes.
After hitting the Gnome with a rock and cracking it, the Gnome came to life and started wobbling toward Kai's location. The legs were locked in place, so all it could do was wobble toward Kai, 'Hopefully, this is a trait they all have.'
Picking up another rock, Kai threw it at the wobbling Gnome, this time hitting the other side, cracking at the point of contact.
Picking up the fourth rock, Kai aimed directly at the head. Luckily Gnomes were slow. Not as slow as the Caterpillars but slower than Kai's walking speed, so if worse was to come, Kai was confident he could run away.
Letting go of the rock, it flew through the air ~bang~ hitting the Gnome on its head, shattering it completely.
{You Earned 70 Experience}
"Jackpot! 70 Exp! Haha, level 20, here I come!"
{Level-10 -73/110}
"When I'm done, this place will be full of broken Gnomes, Hahaha."
Taking out another rock, Kai aimed at the Gnome next to the previous one. Taking aim and firing, Kai hit Gnome's right arm, making cracks appear up to its shoulder. Like before, this Gnome came to life and started wobbling towards Kai.
Throwing another rock, Kai cracked its chest, 'Just one more, and it's light out.'
After throwing another one, the Gnome fell down into pieces.
{You Earned 70 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
"Only two Gnomes and I already leveled up. At this rate, I should be able to clear this floor within a day!"
In high spirits, Kai kept throwing rock after rock, killing all the Gnomes he could reach.
{You Earned 65 Experience Points}
"It seems like no matter what, if you're higher level than what you kill, you'll get less experience. Will I get more Exp if I'm lower level?"
Continuing to kill Gnomes and level up, Kai wanted nothing more than to kill Gnomak and see how much Exp he would get. But could he risk it, could he bear the consequences if it went wrong.
-----
Twelve! Kai was able to kill twelve Gnomes before running out of rocks. He was able to kill all the Gnomes on the right side of Gnomak, the Floor Guardian!
Looking at his notifications, Kai's grin stretched from ear to ear.
"{Status}"
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 10/20 -> 15/20 - 3/160Exp
Hp: 600/600 -> 1000/1000
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 40 -> 60
Vitality: 30 -> 50
Strength: 35 -> 58
Intelligence: 33 -> 55
Agility: 34 -> 56
Dexterity: 36 -> 58
Resistance: 28 -> 45
Attribute Points: 18 -> 28
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}