Chapter 10 (1/2)

Translator: Rockgollem

Editors: Vysne, Gingery Klaus, Skythewood

Ill.u.s.tration: Shadowskyexe

Underground 2nd floor was an area that dog-faced kobolds ruled. It was easy to get through them because if you show them the “Orc Lord’s Tooth”, they do not attack.

The setting was that orc and the kobolds were fighting each other. If you show the evidence that you had defeated the other side’s boss, they would consider you an ally. Conversely, if you show the orcs “Kobold Lord’s Nose”, orcs won’t attack you.

Also, to open the 3rd floor’s door, you only needed either the 1st floor or 2nd floor boss’ item. The orthodox way to clear the game was to just go straight to the 3rd floor, but I wanted to kill the Kobold Lord as well.

Before I go over to the boss’ room, I went over to the room that contains monster that looked like poisonous red insect with a sh.e.l.l called “Rock Pain”. They scuttled around the labyrinth with stones on their back and acted like hermit crabs.

“Whoah-- it’s crawling with them.”

I pulled one out and started punching it with my fist. I could hit it with a weapon, but the rocks would chip the sword. Even if it was a samurai sword, it would soon turn into a club.

I continued hitting the monster with all my might while thinking it’s just another training. The skins on my fists were starting to peel, but healing potion would heal minor injuries like that, so I kept going. I would punch away until my fists started to bleed, use magic potion and repeat the process. I could feel the skins on my fists getting thicker as my training progressed.

I remember when I took karate lessons. I never reached the black belt because of my personality of giving up too easily. I took kendo, judo and aikido lessons as well, but gave up halfway.

Only thing I kept up was jogging in the morning. Motion of running never bored me for some reason. Perhaps because it was one of natural human motions. Only thing I retained from my martial arts cla.s.ses were basic stances, blocks and other half-a.s.sed movements.

Trainings were a pain in the a.s.s, but if it was in Geno-Real, I could bear with it. I could probably become some sort of kick-a.s.s martial arts master at this rate. For a gamer, gaming was a joy.

I simply punched away at the slow poisonous insect that moved like a rock. My arms felt weak and were shaking, so I decided to switch it up to kicking instead. These unarmed combat practice was to raise my acrobat skill.

I struck with all my might until the skin broke, muscle felt weak and bones started to fracture. I endured the pain and simply struck, struck and struck. I continued this training that was no better than self-harming.

“Kuuh…..”

“Rock Pain” was an appropriate name for it. Its bite was poisonous, so you needed to be prepared to punch it until it died.

I could fix most injury with health potions. So I took this moment to train at an intensity that most martial artists wouldn’t dare to. Even if my fingers were broken, I would simply heal it up instantaneously.

It was not only a physical training, but training my priest rank by making stamina and healing potions. I could also heal myself against the insect’s weak poison to rank up my poison resistance. This was the ideal training ground.

I simply kept on beating up the Rock Pains until I couldn’t feel anything anymore and couldn’t stay awake. My consciousness started fading by the time I had killed all the Rock Pains in the room. Even the bone shattering pain couldn’t seem to keep me awake. My vision became blurred and legs started to shake.

“Ha…. this seems to be the limit.”

I could use potions to stay awake for a bit longer, but it was better to take a rest. I decided to collapse into the room with a door that opened via a switch.

This was the much needed resting point and there was even a fresh water source. Water was necessary for all life. Geno-Real tried to kill you at every opportunity, but killing via dehydration wasn’t part of the game’s goal. Thus, there were places to drink water every so often.

It was probably part of the aquifer water circulating the dungeon. Needless to say, the water didn’t contain any poison. I scooped up the water with flasks and kept drinking.

“Phew, I feel alive.”

The water was only lukewarm and felt a little slimy, but it couldn’t taste any sweeter right now. I quenched my thirst to heart’s content and simply pa.s.sed out on the spot.

“Mmm….”

I felt like I had just fallen asleep when I opened my eyes. It seems I fell in such deep sleep I haven’t noticed anything.

My head felt clear, like a computer that had just been formatted. I simply slept on the ground with the bag as a pillow, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. My arms and legs had become harder and the muscles were now more visible. It felt like I was in a different body.

“I probably ranked up.”

I went back to the room where I killed the Rock Pains and packed all the stones into my backpack. When I lifted up my bag, it was fairly heavy.

“Huu…. Ha-yah!”

I looked like some middle aged man hiking up a mountain, but the bag was fairly heavy as they were filled with rocks. I could feel the st.u.r.dy straps of the backpack dig into my shoulder as I took every step. It wasn’t light, but I could handle the weight. I’ve only been training for one, or was it two days, but the results of the training was impressive.

“Haha, I can move all these rock at once.”

I went into the big room in front of the boss’ room and threw my bag towards the corner of the room just beyond a trap. It crashed with large thud and a cloud of dust. Then I jumped over the trap and proceeded to dump the rocks in the backpack onto the ground. I repeated the steps of gathering the rocks and dumping them onto the corner.

I actually enjoyed these simple preparatory tasks. Every time I moved those rocks, fatigue acc.u.mulated on my shoulder and waist, but I could feel myself getting stronger every time I used a stamina potion.

Once there were small mountain of rocks in the room in front of kobold boss’, I was finished with the preparation. It was time to challenge the boss. I went into the boss’ room and threw a rock at the Kobold Lord with all my might.

“Wooh-!”

The Kobold Lord decided I was an enemy immediately after being hit with a stone, but didn’t let out a cheap howl like the Orc Lord. It gave off a low threatening voice as it swung its Screamer Shark towards me. I avoided the blow by a dangerous margin and began running away.

The boss had similar physique as the Orc Lord, but used a Screamer Shark with a small iron s.h.i.+eld. It was the 2nd floor’s boss, so it was more difficult and agile than the Orc Lord.

I ran back into the big room and leapt over the floor trap to where I had piled up the rocks. Normally, jumping over traps were not allowed in Geno-Real.

I suppose I was cheating a bit. Whether it was designed on purpose or coincidence, this room had a small area that a character could get stuck in. The area was surrounded with floor traps, so you couldn’t get to the point without items like trap avoiding ladder or ropes, but now I could simply jump over.

I definitely had an advantage over monsters that could only move in a programmed fas.h.i.+on. Kobold Lord tried to attack me, but couldn’t move over the traps. It simply glared at me while making “Sss.h.i.+k” “Sss.h.i.+k” threatening noise.

In lower floors, cheating acts like jumping over traps was a huge advantage. There were many traps on the first and second floor, but if you could memorize where they were, it became a weapon of sorts.

The only things the Kobold Lord could do was just glare at me or cross the traps that would shatter its legs. I leisurely picked up a stone from the pile and threw it at the Kobold Lord.

“Eat this!”

The rock found its mark with a mighty thud. For a strong monster like Kobold Lord, it was probably like a mosquito bite. That was why I had prepared a large pile of rocks and threw one after the other with care and concentration.