Slowly opening his eyes, Kai was startled by what lay before him. "What the.."
Kai was surrounded by tall grass that made its way up to his knees. Sprouting from the grass are huge tall flowers that are taller than himself. Each one had distinct features.
One had yellow and pink petals with a straight blue stem. Another one had red and green petals and a curvy green stem. However, there was one flower that stood out from the rest.
More than twice the size of all the other flowers stood a gigantic rose about 30 feet high. It's blood-red petals with a black-thorned stem. The rose looked magical with the bright blue sky behind it. The sun shined on the petals, making them gleam.
"That should be the entrance to the next floor, sigh. The old man said that dungeons are pretty straightforward. It seems I'll have to make my way over there somehow."
Clenching his fist, Kai swore, 'Ashen, Eric, you will pay. I will hunt you both down to the ends of the world. And I'll do whatever it takes!"
~gwrrwr~
Kai sighed, "But first, I'll need some food and water."
Looking around, Kai couldn't see any sign of a water or food source. Seeing as everywhere was just grass and flowers, Kai decided to go in the direction of the giant rose.
Starting his way towards the rose, Kai moved at a pace comparable to a turtle. Due to his latest encounter and coupled with his already weekend body, Kai could barely go a few hundred feet before having to rest.
"At this rate, I'm going to starve. Damnit!"
After walking for hours, Kai started to doubt he would ever eat again.
Resting his head against the stem of a blue-green flower, Kai knew he couldn't continue like this. His body was getting weaker and weaker as time went by. Closing his eyes, Kai wanted nothing more than to wake up from this nightmare.
~munch gmmrm munch~
Kai's body instinctively jolted up. Kai's eyes moved wildly, looking for the source of the noise. After a few seconds of looking around. His eyes landed upon a 3-foot-long green body, with yellow stripes across it peeking out behind a flower stem.
After weighing his options, Kai didn't really have a choice. It was either turn away and start over again, looking for something to eat and drink. Or find out what this creature was eating and possibly see if Kai could eat that and the creature.
Staying low to the ground, Kai started making his way to it, "If I wasn't desperate, I wouldn't even risk it to see what this creature is. But maybe I can finally eat." Kai's eyes narrowed. The creature was about 50 feet away when it suddenly started to move.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Picking up his pace a bit to follow it, Kai's heart started to beat faster, not out of fear but excitement. Maybe after all this time, Kai could sate his hunger.
The creature was sluggish. Even if Kai didn't pick up his pace, this creature wouldn't be able to escape from him. As Kai was getting closer and closer, he looked around himself to make sure there wasn't anything else lurking around and to make sure he wouldn't step on something to alert the creature.
Arriving where he first spotted it, Kai saw a half-eaten petal that fell from the flower beside him, "Could I.. also eat these petals?" Although Kai was tempted to try. But first, he had to find out the identity of this creature. He could always return for this petal if the creature was stronger than himself.
Following the path the creature took, Kai noticed the area had many more flowers than anywhere he's been. Going into the now flower forest, "This could be a good place to rest later on." Kai noted. Due to the number of flowers and petals, the sun could barely get through, making this a cool area.
Hiding behind a flower, Kai finally got a full view of the creature he's been following. A three-foot-long green body with yellow stripes along its back. Three pairs of stubby green legs near its head, a couple of long black antennas coming out from the head, and a pair on its back.
"What is that thing?"
Kai never saw such a creature before, even with all the insects and trash he had to eat to survive. As Kai was thinking of what this thing could be, he noticed the direction it was heading, being curious, he looked ahead of it. There he saw a crystal blue pond, rocks laced around it, making a border for the water.
Kai smiled, "With this, I solved two of my biggest problems."
With how slow this creature was moving, Kai was confident if he couldn't kill it, he could outrun it.
Slowly walking up on the creature's side to not startle it, Kai was about 20 feet from it.
Deciding to keep a distance for a bit, Kai went to the pond's side to observe what the creature was doing.
Looking closer at the creature, Kai noticed some weird symbol in his peripheral vision. The symbol was a white question mark in a black box. It only appeared while looking directly at the creature and when he was within a certain distance.
"The old man told me something about a skill everyone had, where you can inspect what you were looking at. Could this be it? Well, here goes nothing, [Inspect]?"
{Green King Caterpillar}
{Level-1}
"Woah! So it's a Green King Caterpillar, what a name. Born to be a king. Truly worthy of being my first prey." Kai nodded to himself.
The Green King Caterpillar was currently drinking from the pond. It seemed to have noticed Kai, but either didn't mind him or didn't take him as a threat.
Now sitting across the pond directly in front of the Green King Caterpillar. Kai put a few rocks in his lap, just in case something happened. Soon, the Green King Caterpillar was done drinking. It looked straight at Kai.
Fearing the Green King Caterpillar would attack him, Kai tightly held a rock in each hand, afraid they would run away. The Green King Caterpillar started to walk straight threw the shallow pond, making its way towards Kai.
Pushing its body slowly through the pond, Kai couldn't help but be confused, "Why is it coming to me?"
10 feet, 7 feet, 4 feet, the Green King Caterpillar was now right in front of Kai. It was like it froze right in front of him. Overall confused by the actions of the Green King Caterpillar, Kai let his guard down when suddenly the Green King Caterpillar started charging right at Kai.
As the Green King Caterpillar was about to attack, Kai raised both his arms, ready to smash into it, when.. it rubbed against his leg...
"Huh"
Dumbfounded, Kai didn't know what to do. Was the Green King Caterpillar really just a friendly creature? Was it just an innocent creature inside the dungeon?
~Grwwrr~
Kai sighed, "I'm sorry big one."
Bringing his arms down as hard as his weak body could, Kai watched as he pierced through the soft, slimy flesh, cracking its soft exoskeleton, instantly killing it.
{Earned 14 Experience Points}
A single system notification popped up.
Kai's lips curled up, "Not bad, food and experience points."
"Now what was it, [Status]?"
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 1/20 - 14/20Exp
Hp: 45/100
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 11
Vitality: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 3
Resistance: 2
Attribute Points: 0
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}
"..."
"Are you looking down on me?"
Looking at his reflection on the pond, Kai looked depressed, "Numbers are just that, numbers."
Nodding to himself, Kai looked down at this meal. Ripping off the rest of the protective layer around the Caterpillar, Kai sat down and readied himself.
"This is a Green King Caterpillar. How bad could a King taste?"
Kai lifted his head before going straight for a bite.
".."
Kai started to chew when the taste got to him slowly.
"Mmmmm,"
Kai couldn't hold back anymore. He started devouring the Green King Caterpillar, the taste, the texture. Everything about it was the best Kai had ever had. The flavor was melting on his tongue.
A single tear rolled down his cheek, "This is what a King should taste like, truly magnificent!"
After finishing all he could, Kai dragged the corpse in the opposite direction he was headed. This way, if something came for the corpse they wouldn't find Kai.
Making his way back towards the pond. Kai found a flower to sit against near the pond. Kai rubbed his slightly bulging belly. He looked like a man at peace.
"I could get used to ~BURRRP~ this, ah. A little nap hurt nobody."
Slowly closing his eyes, Kai let out a small smile.
----
"Mmmmm Ahhh." After his nap, Kai stretched his limbs before looking at his surroundings.
Not seeing anything noteworthy, Kai looked toward the sky. Looking through the gaps in the petals and leaves of the flowers, Kai saw that the giant rose appeared closer than when he first arrived. Kai smiled, "It should just be past this forest. After scouting the exit, I should come back here and find more Green King Caterpillars."
After eating a full meal and a good rest, Kai's body was in better condition than it had been in a long time. Going at a slightly faster pace than before, Kai was in high spirits.
Although his body was in better condition than before, it was still far from what it could be.
After walking for about an hour, more light came through as the flowers grew fewer in number. Nearing the edge of the flower forest, Kai was starting to get tired.
As Kai got closer to the rose, the terrain started to change. The grass was getting shorter, and the ground began to descend.
With no flowers in Kai's way, he finally got a full view of the rose and the surrounding area. Many different weird plants were growing around the rose. These plants were everywhere, even 100 feet away from the rose. It was like some paradise, a great garden!
Some plants sprouted up and had an orb-like object hanging from them. Others grew straight up a couple of feet.
Black roots from the rose dug in and out of the ground, bumping into the almost flat land.
Kai's eyes shone with excitement and delight, "Tens, no hundreds of them. Hahahaha. I'm rich!"
Hundreds of Green King Caterpillars were scattered throughout the field, munching and the various plants.
Kai's eyes wandered across the field till they landed at the center, where the rose was. Right in front of the rose was a white portal. It looked identical to the one that brought Kai here.
Surrounding the rose and portal were dozens of 3-foot statues. The statues had long red hats and big white beards covering their face almost entirely, leaving only their red eyes uncovered: blue shirts and black pants with a yellow belt.
Directly in front of the portal was the only statue different. This statue was twice the size of the others and had a green shirt instead. It also had a giant mallet in its right hand.
"Huh?"
Something wasn't sitting right with Kai, 'How could it be this easy?' he thought.
Looking closer at the statues, he noticed something that sent a shiver down his spine. All the statues were looking in his direction.
"Why does it feel like their all staring at me? And why are they surrounding the portal?"
Looking around the garden, Kai didn't see anything else noteworthy. Looking toward the giant statue, he decided to test his luck.
"It's better to be careful. Please don't be what I think it is... [Inspect]."
{Gnomak, The Garden Gnome-Floor Guardian}
{Level-20}
"What the fu-"